(0d-10408-10335 ay are + a Yo / oo | ~ Sk -25607- “Memo No. 225 . res roe 2 94. FE spre | ri a 2 December 19 MAY 45 1975 MICROFILMED | MEMORANDUM FOR: DC/CI 3 . G . SUBJECT: Lee Harvey OSWALD | was/- 9 18 ~ x 1. The folldowing’ very Lonuaie eonnsetion between Sub- ject and Olga P -RRER is brought to your attention for pos- sible discussion with the FBI. . 2. Beginning in April of this year the FBI has submitted several investigative reports on one Olga Prjevalinskiy FERRER, a professor of Russian and S at Louisiana State Universit in New Orleans. Mrs. FERRER, twice divorced, was born in France ~“{n I91Z, spent her carly childhood in Russia, came to the United States from France in 1949 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1955. The FBI's interest in Mrs. FERRER was appare ently generated by a phone call she made to the Soviet Embassy in Washington sometime prior to 29 January 1963, at which time she requested information concerning the possibility of Anmeri- can students and teachers travelling in the Soviet Union at re- duced rates. Considerable background information on Mrs. FERRER has been made available by the F831, covering her period of residence in the United States. 3. Independently of the FBI investigations, Mexico City station reported that one Olga P. FERRER rented an apartment in j that city in August of this year and had arrived there as of | 2 September. On that day she was in telephone contact with. of Nikolay Sergeyevich LEONOV, an Assistant Cultural Attache and i Third Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City and a H long-time KGB officer. She made arrangements to meet with LEONOV later the same day. Prior to. returning to New Orleans. | on 17 September, Mrs, FERRER was in attendance at sessions of : the Thirteenth International Philosophy Congress being held at the time in Mexico City, and she was observed to be in con- tact with several other Soviets. _ CLASSIFICA REVIEW 24 MAY 197¢ OlA~aAG seria nenen ee er FecoRD COPY | i |
13-00000 «2+ 4. No conclusions have been reached by the FBI as to the nature or extent of Mrs, FERRER's involvement with communism or the Soviet Union. From the information pres- ently available, however,-it appears to this Office that she is at least a Soviet “sympathizer, if not a recruited agent. On the basis of several gaps and inconsistencies in her pre-1949 background, we have been investigating the possibility that she could even be a Sovict illegal. While there is nothing specific by which Mrs, FERRER could be con- nected with Subject's case, we feel that certain items of information, obtained through the investigations of the F3I and Mexico City Station, arc of interest in light of the revelation in the newspapers of certain background infor- mation on Subject. We note especially the following: a) Mrs. FERRER's residence in New Orleans, . Subject, evidently spent considerable tine there. Oi b) The fact that Mrs. FERRER‘s uncle, one Boris S. DE MERING, who has had a mail address in Shreveport, Louisiana, since the early 1940's and who is associated with an oil company there, actually resides in Houston, Texas. c) Mrs. FERRER's trip to Mexico City. She . returned from there on 17 Septembor and Subject went there on 26 September. d) Mrs. FERRER*s occupation as a professor. The "Fair Play for Cuba Committee", of which Sub- ject was reportedjy a member, was evidently made up largely of students and “intellectual” types. e) Nikolay Sergeyevich LEONOV's actual status as a KGB officer. Subject also was in contact with another KCB officer in Mexico City. Of further interest in this regard is LEQNOV's back- ground, [lis personal calling card was found in the possessicn of Fidel CASTRO at the time of the latter's arrest in Mexico in 1956, LEONOV at that time was an employee at the Soviet Embassy in - Mexico City. Ue departed shortly thereafter and, with the exception of a trip to Cuba with MIKOYAN . in 1960, presumably remained in the USSR until the 2 .
13-00000 ard «je summer of 1961, when he returned PCS to Mexico City. In the spring of this year, at the time of CASTRO's visit to the USSR, LEONOV went on home leave. While there he was photographed several times in the coapany of CASTRO and KHRUSHCHEV, and supposedly served as CASTRO's interpreter, LEONOV's principal task in Mexico City has been the smuggling of arms to insurgent groups in Latin America, especially Cuatenala, f) The fact that Mrs. FERRER's 18-year old daughter, Marisol, is working in a French Quarter night club in hew Orleans and was at one time reportedly associated with a group of juven- - iles who were using dope. In this regard we note the fact that Jack RUBY was the owner of at least two night clubs in Dallas and apparently has had connections with organized crime. | sn _ . I SR/CT/I1 Distribution: . Original §& 1 - Addressee “oe SR/CI/I for 201-734813 - Zr C/WH/3 | | 1 - Chrono SR/CI/I:{ sme 2 December 1965 campestris <TC ‘atitrtnily > oROAeeAANaeensh NED SED ’ : . ‘ * “ er ee