Evicted American Hides Out in U.S. Embassy

A U.S. businessman, who said he was physically threatened and forcibly evicted from his apartment by a high-level Russian government official, was under the protection of the U.S. Embassy on Monday.


Gustavo Coloma said his problems began in November, when the official -- a deputy minister -- took a liking to his apartment and decided he wanted it for himself.


Coloma, the president of the Preco Group, a Texas-based firm dealing in oil, gas and commercial aviation, said he had signed a legal contract with the official's family but the official took matters into his own hands.


In a telephone interview Monday evening, Coloma provided the official's name and position, but because The Moscow Times was unable to offer the official an opportunity to respond, his identity has been withheld.


The dispute over Coloma's home and office heated up March 22, when the deputy minister and the chief of the 75th police precinct showed up at his apartment with "two gorillas" and tried to break the door down, he said. "That time we were saved by CNN," said Coloma, who called the network after his pleas to the police were unanswered.


But Coloma was not so lucky six days later when he and his wife left the apartment for a business lunch. "When we returned we noticed immediately that something was going on," said Coloma. He said his suspicions were raised by several vehicles and men lurking around the entrance.


He then ran with his wife to the nearby Galerie du Vin, where they called a neighbor to find out what had happened. "Our neighbor said that five strangers and [the official] had broken into the apartment," said Coloma.


One of the men from the previous visit apparently recognized him, summoned support and followed him to the wine store. "We saw they were approaching, and we asked if there was a back door," said Coloma, adding that he and his wife fled from the store on Tarasa Shevchenko Naberezhnaya to the CNN office on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.


Speaking Monday from the U.S. Embassy compound, where he and his wife are under the protection of the U.S. government, Coloma said he is frightened and fed up.


"We have invested a lot of money into this country and we are totally legal," said Coloma, who has taken his case to the State Department and members of the U.S. Congress. "We have been violated. My house has been broken into. We've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment. It's time we all got together and do something."


Coloma had not returned to his apartment since the events of March 28. But he said a neighbor saw the deputy minister return to the flat Sunday with a military truck to clear out the apartment. When queried, he told the neighbor he was picking up Coloma's belongings for him. "We've lost everything," said Coloma. "We had hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment in that apartment."


While Coloma says that he has appealed repeatedly to the local police and the prosecutor's office, he says these bodies have done nothing to help him.


The anti-organized crime police had been more cooperative, he said, but even there he found that his case ran into complications.


"All the papers of my case disappeared between Friday and today," Coloma said Monday.


"Only after pressure from the U.S. Embassy did the papers reappear this afternoon."


But while Coloma may be seeking justice, he is not looking to stay.


"We're pulling out. Our investors are pulling out. God damn it, we're fed up," he said.


Coloma said his company has invested $1.5 million in operations over the 15 months since he came to work in Russia.