Libeled Businessman to Seize Soviet Assets in U.S.

LOS ANGELES--A businessman who won an unprecedented $450,000 libel judgment against the Soviet Union received a go-ahead yesterday from a federal magistrate to begin seizing Soviet assets in the United States.

Attorney Gerald Kroll, representing Raphael Gregorian, said he would move within the next two weeks to attach unspecified Soviet holdings in the United States unless Soviet officials change their minds and pay Gregorian.

Kroll said the possibilities include bank accounts held by the Soviet Union in the United States and Soviet-owned business such as Belarus Machinery USA Inc., which assembles Soviet-made tractors at Milwaukee and Slidell, La.

The order to allow seizure of assets was signed late Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Ralph Geffen and Kroll said he received his copy yesterday. He said the order allows attachment of assets of the government newspaper Izvestia, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, two export agencies and the Soviet government itself.

Gregorian, 56, of Palo Alto, operated a medical supply company in the Soviet Union for 14 years but was expelled in 1984 and was accused in the Soviet press of being a spy.

Gregorian took the unusual step of suing the Soviet government and Izvestia for libel, seeking $10 million in damages and payment for medical supplies which were delivered before his expulsion.

On June 30, U.S. District Judge David Kenyon awarded Gregorian more than $400,000 plus interest, which included a damage award of $250,000 for loss of reputation.

"We are creating new law as we do this," Kroll said Wednesday. "This is all new turf. We started this case and everybody laughed at us. But we have succeeded every step of the way and we intend to continue to be successful."