A Brooklyn man charged in an alleged husband-and-wife identity-theft ring pleaded not guilty today in Brooklyn federal court to charges that he murdered his victims.
The U.S. Attorney’s office on Friday charged Dmitriy Yakovlev, 42, with murdering two people in the course of ripping them off and plundering their checking and credit card accounts.
His wife, Julia Yakovlev, 36, was charged in the identity theft scam, but not the murders. She also pleaded not guilty today.
Victor Alekseyev, one of the alleged victims of Yakovlev, was found dismembered in a New Jersey park in 2005.
The other alleged victim, Irina Malezhik, a Russian court reporter, disappeared on the same day that the accused fraudster couple deposited checks drawn on her account. Julia Yakovlev allegedly charged $16,2000 in expensive watches and jewelry on Malezhik’s charge card.
Michael Klein, a retired mechanic with the NYPD, who disappeared on the day he sold his house to the Yakovlevs has never been found.