Judge Refuses to Throw Out Charges in Kidnapping Case

Paving the way for trial, a federal judge on Monday denied a motion to dismiss charges against two of the six defendants in an international kidnap-for-ransom case.

U.S. District Judge Nora Manella also disqualified attorney Victor Sherman from further representing Iouri Mikhel.

The judge said the lawyer’s simultaneous representation of another defendant in the case constituted an “extremely serious potential for conflict” of interest.

Federal prosecutors accuse Mikhel, 37, of kidnapping two of the four Los Angeles victims whose bodies were found last month in a Northern California lake. A fifth body was found in the same lake, New Melones near Sonora, last October.

While Manella gave Mikhel three weeks to find a new lawyer, she allowed Sherman to continue representing Andrei Agueev, 34, who is charged with receiving about $235,000 in ransom money paid by a victim’s family to Agueev’s bank account in the United Arab Emirates.

Also charged with Agueev is Andrei Liapine, 41, who is accused of helping transfer the ransom money to Latvia.

If convicted, Agueev and Liapine, both Russian nationals, face a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

The motion to dismiss was filed by Sherman for Agueev and by attorney Edward Robinson for Liapine.

Mikhel and three other defendants--Jurijus Kadamovas, 35, of Encino; Petro “Peter” Krylov, 29, of West Hollywood; and Ainar Altmanis, 42, of Sherman Oaks--may face the death penalty if convicted.

They are accused of either directly kidnapping or aiding an abduction that resulted in death, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

The six defendants, all of whom have roots in the former Soviet Union, have pleaded not guilty and are being held in Los Angeles without bail.

They have not been charged with murder, although authorities did not rule out the possibility of filing additional charges.

A seventh suspect, Alexandr Afonin, remains at large. Afonin is charged with persuading Agueev and Liapine to accept ransom money.