SPY TRIAL WITNESS DENIES AFFAIR WITH EMIGRE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201350027-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: May 2, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201350027-5
NEW YORK TIMES
2 May, 1985
Spy Trial Witness Denies Affair With Emigre
agent of the Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation gation denied Tuesday that he had had
a sexual affair with a woman being
tried as a Soviet spy.
The agent, John E. Hunt, in his first
day of ate-examination in the trial of
Nikolay and Svetlana Ogorodnikov, re-
jected Mrs. Ogorudnikov's contentions
that be was her lover while he was as-
signed to investigate her.
That was two years before the
woman me Miller. then an
F.B.I. agent. 0M accused by the
Uovernment oconspiring to ON clas-
sified information to the Soviet intelli-
gence service the r er is
to
Lawyers or -Mr. Miller have con-
tended that other F.B.I. agents besides
himself have had affairs with Soviet
operatives and have not been charged
with wrongdoing. Mr. dismissedas a result of the who was
espionage
charges, denies spying and said he was
being selectively prosecuted by his su-
periors in the bureau.
Mrs. Ogorodnikov maintains that her
activities with the F.B.I. had nothing to
do with spying but rather were a result
of her -cooperation as an informer for
the bureau for several years.
Mr. Hunt, the agent who was first as-
signed to Mrs. Ogorodnikov's:case in
1980, is a key witness in the trig, and
Tuesday was his third day on the wit-
ness stand. He has testi fied about his
efforts to get the Russian woman to
provide information to the F.B.I. about
Soviet activities.
Mr. Hunt testified Tueday that he he-
was questioned last. October, after the
arrest of the Ogorodnikovs and Mr.
Miller, by two separate pairs of investi-
gators from the F.B.I.'s inspection
division, the unit responsible for inter-
nal investigations.
The investigators, Mr. Hunt said,
asked him about Mrs. Ogorodnikov's
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LOS ANGELES, April 30 - A retired
feelings toward him, whether they had
ever had sexual intercourse and
whether he had ever offered to divorce
his wife. Mr. Hunt told the jury that the
investigators had told him "the sole
purpose of the interview was to discuss
allegations made agaist me by Mrs.
Ogorodnikov" in July 1983.
The former agent said that at the
time he was advised that he was enti-
tled to an attorney and if he talked his
statements could be used agaist him.
Mr. Hunt said that "two or three
weeks" after the second set of investi-
gative interviews in mid-October he
filed the required papers for retire-
ment.
Last week Mr. Hunt testified that he
had retired for health reasons and be-
cause he had completed 20 years.
Gregory Stone, one of Mrs. Ogorodni-
kov's lawyers, appeared to intend that
the line of questioning imply that Mr.
Hunt had retired because of the investi-
gators' attention to his relationship
with Mrs. Ogorodnikov. The defense
lawyer, however, did not pursue that
theme Tuesday with any further ques-
tions.
In other testimony Tuesday, Mr.
Hunt said that he advised Mr. Miller
last May after learning of his initial
contacts with Mrs. Ogorodnikov:
"R.W., you're getting in over your
head...
He said he had also told Mr. Miller:
"You see how clever she is? She's as
smart or smarter than froth of us. You
had better be careful."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201350027-5