Accused Spy Calls Ex-FBI Agent a Liar : Courtroom Outburst Sparked by Testimony on Their Relationship

Accused Soviet spy Svetlana Ogorodnikova burst into tears and shouted “Why you lie?” Friday, when a key FBI witness testified that she had propositioned him sexually outside a Hollywood cocktail lounge three years ago while he was attempting to recruit her as an informant.

Retired FBI counterintelligence Agent John Hunt, recounting his frequently stormy relationship with Ogorodnikova before deciding that she was too “unreliable” to be an FBI informant, said the sexual overture took place outside the Simply Blues cocktail lounge on June 6, 1982.

Hunt said he had dinner with Ogorodnikova that night in Westwood and was driving her back to her car in Hollywood, when she suggested that they stop for a drink. After leaving the night spot, he said she suddenly threw herself at him, saying: “I love you. Can’t we go some place?”

U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon quickly declared a recess in the espionage trial of Ogorodnikova and her husband, Nikolai Ogorodnikov, while Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard B. Kendall urged that Ogorodnikova be prevented from making any further outbursts during the trial.

“But he lie!” she continued to shout, wiping tears from her face. “I tell it to everybody. It’s not true. He will pay for that.”

Ogorodnikova, 34, has claimed in pretrial court documents that she had a sexual relationship with Hunt before her subsequent involvement with Richard W. Miller, 48, another FBI counterintelligence agent who was arrested last Oct. 2 with the Ogorodnikovs on spy charges.

Lawyers for Ogorodnikova, who have portrayed her as an emotionally troubled alcoholic with an IQ of 74, have claimed that she was in love with Hunt and was essentially repeating her relationship with him when she subsequently became involved with Miller last year.

Hunt, in his 50s, denied Friday that he had ever returned any of Ogorodnikova’s alleged advances during his association with her in 1982 and 1983. He then proceeded to recount a series of confrontations with the accused spy, in which she repeatedly told him of her love for him.

While trying to determine whether Ogorodnikova had the makings of an FBI informant, Hunt testified, he resorted to bringing his wife, daughter and grandchildren with him on meetings with the accused spy for his own protection.

“She called me one morning at the office,” Hunt said. “I said, ‘How about a cup of coffee?’ She said, ‘No, today we’re going to a motel.’ I said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that.’ ”

Broke Into Grin

As Hunt testified about Ogorodnikova’s alleged advances, her husband chatted incessantly with a Russian translator. He broke into a grin as his wife began shouting.

A more solemn spectator at the proceedings for a brief period was Paula Miller, wife of the accused FBI agent, who was ordered out of the courtroom because she is a prospective witness in Miller’s pending trial, which is scheduled to follow that of the Ogorodnikovs.

Hunt’s wife, Earleen, also waited outside as another possible witness.

In his testimony, Hunt described several outbursts when Ogorodnikova began crying because of general unhappiness or her feelings that Hunt was rejecting her.

Friday’s scene was her second courtroom outburst since her arrest last fall. She had erupted earlier during pretrial proceedings at her husband, after he had refused to loan her money for cigarettes during a court break.

Hunt said Friday that after Ogorodnikova first propositioned him in 1982, he told her he thought she had too much to drink and sent her home. Her parting words to him, he said, were: “If you won’t take me, I’m going to find somebody who will.”

Defense Questions

Anticipating some defense questions, Kendall led Hunt to the admission that he had not reported the “incident” to his FBI superiors. Hunt also testified that during his relationship with Ogorodnikova, she gave him three short-sleeve shirts, two records, two dress shirts, a Russian doll, some candy and a three-ounce jar of caviar.

When asked by Kendall if he had reported receipt of the gifts to his FBI superiors, Hunt replied: “Not all of them.”

Hunt, who retired from the FBI last November after 20 years of government service, said he thoroughly briefed Miller on his problems with the Russian emigre after Miller first came into contact with her in May, 1984.