Opinion ID: 200612
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Nishnianidze Contacts Parents

Text: 4 Nishnianidze emigrated to Brooklyn, New York in October, 1998, seeking permanent residency from the Legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service. Finfer and Shea heard nothing from Nishnianidze until January 26, 1999, when he called their home and spoke to Shea. He said he was in Boston and asked to see the family. Shea told Nishnianidze to call Finfer, who then invited Nishnianidze to their home for dinner. 5 Finfer picked up Nishnianidze in downtown Boston and drove him to the family's home in Dorchester. That evening, on the pretense of documenting a successful international adoption, Nishnianidze filmed the family with a video camera he brought. Intimating that the birth mother was having a rough time, he asked if the couple would provide financial support to the birth mother and her two children in Georgia. The couple refused. 6 At the end of the evening, Finfer drove Nishnianidze back to downtown Boston. During the car ride, Nishnianidze told Finfer that Alexander's birth mother was upset, might challenge the legality of the adoption, had made threats to Nishnianidze and Nishnianidze's family, and wanted $50,000 from Finfer and Shea. Finfer was upset by the conversation and told Nishnianidze it sounded like blackmail. 7 Finfer relayed the conversation to Shea. The couple contacted an attorney the next day and met with the FBI on January 28, 1999. At this meeting, Finfer and Shea agreed to record their subsequent conversations with Nishnianidze. They also received advice from the agents about how to gather information from Nishnianidze. After this initial meeting, Finfer and Shea occasionally spoke with a single FBI agent about their conversations with Nishnianidze and received suggestions as to how to handle the discussions.