A federal jury in Brooklyn has convicted Shlomo Patchiav, also known as “Slava Fatkhiev,” of participating in an extortion conspiracy involving threats against a victim to compel payment. The verdict, returned after a three-week trial before United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry, means Patchiav, 45, of Kew Gardens, Queens, faces up to 20 years in prison.
United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr., for the Eastern District of New York, and James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, announced the conviction. Nocella said, “Today’s verdict holds the defendant accountable for extorting a victim for money and threatening to hold him ‘hostage,’ and then covering up his connection to the victim after the victim’s murder by concealing his body.” Barnacle added, “May today’s verdict emphasize the FBI’s commitment to ensuring violent intimidation tactics and attempts to cover up crimes do not go unpunished.”
Evidence presented at trial showed Patchiav, who owned a wholesale jewelry and diamond business, and a co-conspirator engaged in an extortion scheme against Shehroz Tokhirov. The conspiracy began in June 2022 after a luxury watch deal for approximately $500,000 failed to materialize, leading Patchiav and his accomplice to demand money and threaten Tokhirov.
On June 25, 2022, Tokhirov was seen withdrawing cash and obtaining a cashier’s check for $20,000 made out to the co-conspirator, and signing over his Mercedes Benz SUV. Tokhirov disappeared after this meeting, and his body was recovered eight months later in Ellenville, New York. Cell phone data placed Patchiav and the co-conspirator in Ellenville the day after Tokhirov vanished. The co-conspirator, who attempted to flee the country with a significant amount of cash, remains at large.