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FBI Agent: Defendant In Attacks Feared Father-In-Law

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 12, 2008

Updated: 11/12/2008 04:48 pm

TAMPA - After he was arrested in connection with attacks on his parents-in-law, Alex Shevgert said he was afraid his father-in-law was going to have him killed, an FBI agent testified this morning.

Shevgert is accused of orchestrating attacks on his in-laws, Grigori and Galina Komissarchuk, near their homes in Brooklyn and Sarasota because they had stopped giving him money after a string of failed businesses they funded.

Three involved in the attacks – Larik Cholak, Sergey Zub and Edmon Vardanyan - have pleaded guilty. Cholak and Zub testified against Shevgert.

FBI Agent Lynn Billings testified this morning that she arrested Shevgert on June 17 after a meeting between the defendant and Cholak that Billings had monitored. Cholak was at the time cooperating with law enforcement and wore a wire during the meeting.

Shevgert, she said, said he wasn't really involved in the attacks, but he "knew some things." She said Shevgert told her he had conversations with Cholak and Zub, who told him enough for him to conclude they had been involved in the attacks.

Shevgert said his relationship with his in-laws was strained and that he had moved to Sarasota to get away from them so they couldn't teach his children the only value in life was money, Billings said.

Shevgert referred to Grigori Komissarchuk as "that monster," Billings said. When Billings asked if the Komissarchuks had done a lot of nice things for him, like giving him money for businesses, Shevgert replied they had done so with a "hidden agenda," Billings said.

Shevgert said, "They always pushed him into things and repeatedly put him down by stating he was a coward and unable to provide for his family," Billings testified. Shevgert also said he thought his in-laws should have provided more support when his children were younger.

"Throughout the entire interview, you could tell that he very much disliked his father-in-law," Billings said. "He told me he was more afraid of Grigori Komissarchuk than he was of the FBI."

After Billings' testimony, the prosecution rested.

Defense attorney Stephen Stanley began his case with testimony from Victor Peppard, a University of South Florida professor who teaches the Russian language, and chair of the university's Department of World Languages.

He testified about transcripts of conversations involving Shevgert, Cholak and Zub, who were cooperating with authorities and either wearing body wires or allowing telephone conversations to be recorded.

Peppard said transcripts of conversations are missing something because they don't reflect things such as facial expressions and gestures.

He found some discrepancies in the translations and his understanding of what was said, but it was unclear how these discrepancies affect the case.

For instance, there is a conversation in which Cholak refers to an incident at Tampa International Airport when Cholak told Shevgert that Vardanyan might have seen him.

Cholak testified that Vardanyan, who carried out the attacks, never met Shevgert because Shevgert wanted it that way.

The government transcript of the conversation has Shevgert saying, "I didn't see him."

Peppard said Shevgert said, "I didn't know him."

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