Sex, Finances Focus of Bloch Probe : FBI Gives Austria Long List of Questions for His Associates

In questioning associates of suspected spy Felix S. Bloch, the FBI is seeking information about Bloch’s sex life and about any signs that he appeared to suddenly have large sums of money, according to an investigative document in the case.

A three-page list of questions given by the FBI to Austrian authorities clearly indicates that the bureau is focusing on financial payments and sexual encounters as possible factors in the veteran diplomat’s alleged decision to provide secrets to the Soviets.

An official close to the inquiry said investigators believe Bloch’s sexual and financial conduct may be “the driving force” that prompted his alleged recruitment as a Soviet agent. Those areas may explain “how they captured the guy,” another source said.

Bloch has not been charged with any crime, but in the document the FBI states unequivocally for the first time that the American diplomat “furnished U.S. government information to a KGB agent known as Reino Gikman.”

Forged Finnish Passport

Gikman is a cover name used by a suspected Soviet agent traveling on a forged Finnish passport whose contacts with Bloch led U.S. investigators to begin focusing attention on the State Department official, according to a source familiar with the inquiry.

Bloch is suspected of passing a travel bag to Gikman while the two men dined together in Paris in mid-May, according to U.S. authorities. Investigators have not established what was inside the bag, which Gikman took with him when he left Paris the following day, but French agents took several photographs of the two men at the restaurant and elsewhere.

The FBI questionnaire is being relayed by Austrian authorities to a small group of Bloch’s associates in Vienna, where he served until 1987 as the No. 2 official in the U.S. Embassy. One question asks: “Did you ever know Felix Bloch to be unfaithful to his wife or to use the services of a prostitute?”

The questionnaire, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, also asks at another point, “Did Felix Bloch ever advise you of his inheriting or coming into money?”

A source close to the case in Vienna confirmed an Austrian newspaper report Thursday that a former prostitute named Tina told Austrian police last week that Bloch had paid her more than $750 a night for sexual services.

Investigators who have examined Bloch’s financial records have found no evidence that he ever withdrew such sums of money. For that reason, the source said, investigators believe that Bloch may have had an illicit source of cash.

Austrian authorities, who said that they interrogated a “woman friend” of Bloch for four hours last week, said they are “certain” that she had no connection with any espionage activity. They refused to identify the woman.

A security official, however, confirmed that the woman is a former prostitute in her 30s who now works as a waitress in a Viennese coffee house. Bloch, the official said, maintained “friendly relations” with her for a “lengthy” period of time.

Interior Ministry officials forwarded the 12-part FBI questionnaire beginning Wednesday to some of the 10 Austrian officials, diplomats and their spouses identified by U.S. authorities as likely sources of information about Bloch’s activities here.

Bloch Won’t Comment

Bloch could not be reached for comment on the FBI questionnaire. But an associate in Washington who is in touch with him said Bloch would have no comment.

Under an arrangement mandated by the Austrian government, citizens of that nation are free to refuse to respond to the FBI questions and will not be asked to meet with American investigators. The Interior Ministry, which ended its own inquiry into the Bloch affair last week, will function merely as “postmen” for relaying questions, spokesman Werner Sabitzer said.

Among those who are to receive the questionnaire are Austrian Foreign Minister Alois Mock and his wife, Edith, Socialist Party leader Hans Fischer, and former Energy Minister Robert Graf.

The document, with questions written in both English and German, asks recipients to state whether they were aware of any relationship between Bloch and a Soviet official and whether he ever introduced them to “a man known as Reino Gikman.”

The questionnaire also asks Bloch’s Austrian friends whether the American diplomat ever sought classified information from them. In an apparent attempt to challenge Bloch’s reported contention that his contacts with Gikman had to do only with a shared interest in stamp collecting, it asks the friends to provide details about the “type of stamps (Bloch) collected.”

Among other things, it asks whether Bloch’s associates knew him when he was serving in East and West Berlin in the mid-1970s. It was at that time, investigators believe, that Bloch first may have begun cooperating with the Soviets.

It also asks about any mention that Bloch may have made of Marine Corps Cpl. Clayton Lonetree, an embassy security guard who was based in Vienna when he was accused of providing Soviet agents with floor plans, and possibly access, to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where he had been stationed previously.

Officials said that they do not know how many Bloch associates will respond to the questions.

One U.S. government source said the questionnaire is one method being used to determine how Bloch’s alleged association with the Soviets began.

“Maybe he didn’t start out accepting money,” the source said. “Maybe he was tricked or finessed or blackmailed. Then you start paying on top of that, and it makes it easier.”

In seeking information about Bloch’s sexual conduct, U.S. investigators have reviewed an Austrian investigator’s dossier outlining the results of the four-hour interrogation of the former prostitute, Tina. But they will not be permitted to question the woman unless she consents to an interview.

According to one knowledgeable source, the woman provided “detailed information on (Bloch’s) preferred sexual practices.” He said the woman related that Bloch on some occasions paid her “in the five figures” in Austrian schillings. At today’s exchange rates, 10,000 Austrian schillings is slightly more than $750.