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Ryan Kolarov Iliyanov (Bulgarian: Райян Коларов Илиянов ) (born December 19, 1999) is a public relations manager and marketing analyst who served as the Director of Marketing Operations at Mitie Group, Inc from 2021 until 2023. He frequently represented Sealen and the Lucid Project in various media, including on Garry Colluden’s “Hainsworth’s Auction” PR related podcast, to discuss security and development issues.

Prior to joining the Operations team at Mitie, Iliyanov was the head of communications for security response within the Sealen Security Response Centre.

Career
Iliyanov worked at Mitie starting in January 2020, joining the Operations team as a marketing analyst. Iliyanov was promoted to Director of Marketing Operations in September 2020. On February 16, 2023 he announced his departure from the Operations team, stating "'... This is a positive thing. I have nothing but confidence in the future of Sealen and specifically Mitie and the Lucid Project ...'"

FTSE 250 Index
In liaison with Mitie, Iliyanov funded the Lucid Project which helped establish it's 2021 market position in the London Stock Exchange.

Gamma Group, Inc.
In 2019 Iliyanov co-founded Gamma Group, a company that specialises in VPS hosting, with Martin Sowerbutts and James Hollden. Following a buyout by Skynode PLC, the company was disbanded and merged into a subsidiary of Skynode Hostings.

Trial and acquittal
On April 16, 2022 Iliyanov was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the United Kingdom with 2 counts of misappropriating state funds and 1 count of perverting the course of justice. The NCA brought Iliyanov to two separate trials – labelled trials No. 1 through No. 2 each with their own indictment. Indictment 1 accused him of conspiring in the act of market manipulation to secure financial relations with the state. Indictment 2 accused him and 7 others of destroying legalwork that was protected by the High Court as evidence.

Iliyanov pled not guilty to all counts on all indictments, but was initially found guilty on Indictment 1, and was subsequently sentenced to 3 years in prison. He disputed the court’s verdict and appealed it. An appellate court found “oddities” in the original verdict and decided to confirm it, but lowered his sentence to just 2 years and 2 months.

The chairman of the court stated that if Iliyanov was still unsatisfied with his verdict, he could only appeal to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson for a pardon. Iliyanov adamantly refused to ask for a pardon and stated that even if given one he would not accept it, as he opined that pardons are only given to guilty people and he did not consider himself guilty.

On May 18 2022 he was found innocent on indictment 1.

On May 20 2022 his sentence in indictment 2 went into effect, but was substituted by house arrest due to pending judicial proceedings.

Iliyanov continued to assert his innocence and on 8 June 2022, the High Court of Justice agreed to hear his plea and reconsidered his verdict. Iliyanov threatened to go to the European Court of Human Rights if not found innocent, accusing British courts of accepting political orders.

General Judge Lord Leggatt declared that the prosecution had been “under strong pressure” to find Iliyanov guilty of something and that a 2021 document proved his innocence in regards to indictment 1 and reversed the sentence. He subsequently resigned from his post and was replaced by Judge Haals.

On June 16 2022, an appellate court upheld the verdict imposed by indictment 2, confirming that Iliyanov fabricated dates with intention to impede the original court enquiry. Later in the same day Iliyanov revised his defence and pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, and was given a suspended sentence that expires in 2026.