Iouri Mikhel

Parties

Defendants

• Iouri Mikhel (1965–), also described as from St. Petersburg. He was on federal death row.
• Jurijus Kadamovas (1966–), also described as from Lithuania. He was on federal death row.
• Piotr Krylov (also spelled Petro Krylov), described as Ukrainian-born and scheduled for trial in January; he denied the allegations and also faced the death penalty if found guilty.

Other people mentioned

• Ainar Altmanis, described as a 48-year-old Latvian citizen who led investigators to the submerged bodies.
• Natalya Solovyeva, described as Kadamovas’s girlfriend.
• Ruven Umansky, described as the father of victim Alexander Umansky.
• Alexander Umansky, described as owning a car accessory business; later killed.
• Meyer Muscatel, described as a real estate developer; later killed.
• George Safiev, described as a wealthy Russian banking mogul; later killed.
• Rita Pekler (also spelled Rita Peckler), described as Safiev’s accountant; later killed.
• Nick Kharabadze, described as Safiev’s business partner; later killed.
• Dale Rubin, described as one of Mikhel’s defense lawyers.
• Susan DeWitt, described as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
• S. James Otero, described as a U.S. District Judge.
• Dickran Tevrizian, described as a District Judge who formally sentenced Kadamovas and Mikhel.
• A former law enforcement official who requested anonymity.

Timeline

• Late 2001 — The kidnappings occurred over a four-month period beginning in late 2001.
• October 2001 — Mikhel lured Meyer Muscatel into what was billed as a business meeting; Muscatel was killed after the crew was unable to get money from his bank accounts.
• December 2001 — Rita Pekler was abducted, with her kidnappers demanding she arrange a meeting with George Safiev.
• Early 2002 — George Safiev was snared after Nick Kharabadze was abducted and forced to arrange a meeting with Safiev.
• February 2002 — The killing stopped after FBI agents took members of the scheme into custody.
• March 12, 2007 — Kadamovas and Mikhel were sentenced to death.

Background

Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas were two Russian immigrants to the United States who were on Federal death row for kidnapping for ransom related murders. Prosecutors alleged the defendants led a group that sought to amass a fortune by kidnapping affluent business people and extorting money from their families and friends. Documents related to the case alleged the crew demanded a total of more than $5.5 million from relatives and associates, and eventually received more than $1 million from victim’s relatives.

Prosecutors said the victims were killed regardless of whether the ransoms were paid. The bodies were tied with weights and dumped in a reservoir near Yosemite National Park. Federal prosecutors sought the death penalty under murder during a hostage-taking, (18 U.S.C. 1203), a federal crime.

The offence

The kidnappings and killings were described as occurring over a four-month period beginning in late 2001. Prosecutors said the crew demanded ransom and killed the hostages. Investigators said the kidnappers demanded that if ransom money was paid, hostages would be freed, but prosecutors alleged the victims were killed even after ransom payments were collected from some families.

Court materials and prosecutors alleged the kidnappers continued to demand money from victims’ families and business associates even after the victims were killed. One court paper alleged that one of the kidnappers boasted the group would continue its money-making plan until the bodies dropped in the reservoir near Yosemite National Park were “stacked on top of each other.”

Victims and alleged circumstances

Prosecutors and court papers named the following victims:

• George Safiev (37), a wealthy Russian banking mogul who recently moved to Los Angeles to start Matador Media.
• Meyer Muscatel (54), described as a wealthy San Fernando Valley home builder; his body was found in the reservoir in 2001.
• Alexander Umansky (35), described as running a car stereo and electronics store where Krylov once worked.
• Rita Pekler (39), described as an accountant for Safiev’s Matador Media.
• Nick Kharabadze (29), described as Safiev’s business partner.

Prosecutors alleged the kidnappers viewed abductees as witnesses and killed them. Prosecutors alleged Muscatel and Umansky were invited to meetings to discuss business deals and were then beaten and held hostage. Prosecutors alleged that for each victim, the ending was death and a long drive to the New Melones Reservoir, 40 miles east of Stockton in the lower Sierra Nevada foothills.

Specific alleged episodes

• Meyer Muscatel (October 2001): Mikhel was accused of posing as an investor and luring Muscatel into what was billed as a business meeting in October 2001. Kidnappers killed him after they were unable to get money from his bank accounts. His body was weighted down and dumped over a bridge along the reservoir. It was discovered a few days later with hands bound and a plastic bag over the head.
• Rita Pekler (December 2001): Prosecutors said Safiev’s accountant, Rita Pekler, was abducted and killed two months later when she was unable to lead the crew to Safiev. In another account, in December 2001, Pekler was abducted and the kidnappers demanded she arrange a meeting with Safiev; the effort failed and Pekler was killed.
• Alexander Umansky: Prosecutors alleged Umansky was killed after his family paid more than $230,000 for his release. The account also stated that the crew sought even more money after his death and promised he would be returned alive. Another account said police divers recovered five bodies from a reservoir; the other body had floated to the surface earlier when its weights slipped off.
• George Safiev and Nick Kharabadze (early 2002): Prosecutors alleged that Safiev and Kharabadze were killed and dumped into the reservoir after being told they would be left alive at a motel. Authorities said the kidnappers forced Safiev to transfer $969,000 into a Miami account. Prosecutors alleged that after Safiev and Kharabadze were killed, the defendants continued to try to get a business associate of Safiev’s to pay additional ransom by sending a letter that sought about $4 million.
• Ransom payments: One account stated all were killed even though their families and friends gave the kidnappers a total of $1.2 million. Prosecutors said the local Orange County Register newspaper reported that the convicts strangled their victims after receiving a $1.2 million ransom from relatives. Another account stated that authorities said Umansky’s family wired $235,000 in ransom money, including a payment of $145,000 sent after he was dead.

Alleged weaponry and evidence items found

Authorities reported finding:

• A safe containing four sets of handcuffs, with two sets having the DNA of Safiev and Kharabadze on them.
• Two boxes of a prescription sedative and a syringe.
• Stun guns, a Taser gun, a silencer, and multiple handguns and rifles. Prosecutors alleged Pekler and Muscatel had the drug in their systems at the time of their deaths.

Allegations of further offences connected to other places

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan DeWitt said Kadamovas and Mikhel were responsible for at least two other killings, one in Turkey and one in Cyprus. She said the men would have carried out other kidnappings had they not been caught, and they were planning a trip to Aspen, Colo., and to a boat show in Florida to find more victims.

Investigation

Investigators said they were investigating kidnappings that ended with bodies dumped in a reservoir. Authorities learned the location of the bodies after arresting a coconspirator who later pleaded guilty to charges related to the case.

Ainar Altmanis was described as the man who led investigators to the submerged bodies. In one account, all were kidnapped for ransom and killed, investigators said, and Altmanis’s sentencing marked the end of a six-year probe into the killings of four wealthy Russian immigrants and a U.S. businessman in late 2001 and early 2002.

Arrest and co-conspirator information

Authorities arrested members of the scheme in February 2002. One account described Natalya Solovyeva as being sentenced for her role; authorities said she lured one victim to a Los Angeles bar, where he was abducted and forced to contact another man who was also kidnapped. The men were taken to New Melones Lake, about 60 miles west of Yosemite, where they were killed and their bodies were dumped in the reservoir, prosecutors said. Solovyeva’s prosecution involved guilty pleas.

The accounts also described that two other suspects, including Kadamovas’s girlfriend, were cooperating with investigators.

Trial

Pleas and scheduled trial dates

Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas pleaded not guilty to charges that included conspiracy and hostage-taking resulting in death. A third defendant, Petro Krylov (33), also denied the allegations and was scheduled for trial in January.

Jury selection in the first trial stemming from the scheme was under way in Los Angeles federal court, with testimony expected to start in September.

Trial theories, evidence, and statements

Prosecutors said each of the defendants’ victims met the same fate regardless of whether the ransom money defendants demanded was paid or not, and that the defendants “brutally murdered each one of them.”

Prosecutors intended to present:

• Tape recordings of ransom calls.
• DNA of two victims collected from handcuffs.
• A pair of shoes matched to a bloody footprint found on a bridge near the New Melones Reservoir.

A defense lawyer, Dale Rubin, said:

• “We'll be fighting tooth and nail at trial,” and said he did not want to discuss the evidence of the case outside of court: (appearing in the record as a statement made by Rubin.)

Another account included defense statements about the defendants’ background under a Communist regime, saying they became criminals in order to survive.

Sentencing

On March 12, 2007, Kadamovas and Mikhel were sentenced to death. A District Judge, Dickran Tevrizian, formally sentenced Jurijus Kadamovas and Iouri Mikhel.

In a separate part of the case’s progression, Natalya Solovyeva was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for her role. Another sentencing described S. James Otero’s comments that Solovyeva had been promised a new BMW if she aided in the kidnappings and that two victims would “probably be alive today” had she not taken part. Solovyeva pleaded guilty to two counts of hostage-taking resulting in death and one conspiracy charge. Before sentencing, Solovyeva said in English:

• “I would like to say over and over again how sorry I am for what I did. I am sorry for all the victims,”
• “I know I made a terrible choice I will regret for all my life.”

Appeals

The accounts stated that defense attorneys would appeal the ruling.

Outcome

The jury found Mikhel and Kadamovas guilty in February for ransom killings of four men and a woman in 2001–2002 and for subsequent money laundering. Prosecutors sought only 11 years for Solovyeva.

In another sentencing track, Ainar Altmanis pleaded guilty to three counts of hostage-taking resulting in death and one conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 23 years and 4 months in federal prison. Altmanis said in Russian through a court translator while looking at family members of the victims:

• “I got totally confused in this life,”
• “The life of the person I have become, I do not want it. Please forgive me.” At sentencing, Altmanis wept and apologized repeatedly.

Ruven Umansky, father of victim Alexander Umansky, said:

• “This man should suffer more than my son,”
• “He should stay in prison the rest of his life.”

Other details

Additional alleged criminal organization context

Authorities and prosecutors suspected the ring had links to Russian organized crime, and court papers stated the defendants “committed the horrendous crimes at issue within the structure of a violent Russian criminal organization.”

The court papers also stated that Kadamovas told a victim in a recorded conversation that the kidnapping had been ordered by his “bosses.” Prosecutors alleged the kidnappers ordered victims to transfer money to accounts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. An alleged Siberian cohort was described as a fugitive considered by the FBI. Another account said that because there were no racketeering charges, lawyers said it was unlikely the trials would focus much on the structure of their organization or provide insight into how the purported Russian Mafia operated in California.

Objects and conduct details

Prosecutors alleged Mikhel used $2,500 to put a down payment on two Doberman pinschers to guard his house. Prosecutors also alleged the kidnappers used much of the money to buy new vehicles and mink coats for their girlfriends.

Geographic details given

The bodies were dumped in a reservoir near Yosemite National Park. Prosecutors described the reservoir as the New Melones Reservoir in Northern California. Authorities described New Melones Lake as about 60 miles west of Yosemite, and also described New Melones Reservoir as about 40 miles east of Stockton.

Co-defendant and cooperating suspects

In addition to Mikhel and Kadamovas, another defendant in the case, Ukrainian-born Piotr Krylov, may also face a capital punishment if found guilty. Two other suspects, including Kadamovas’s girlfriend, were described as cooperating with investigators.