Millionaire shipping executive escapes execution 'by paying hitman hired by his father-in-law $25K more to leave him alone'

dailymail.co.uk

A New York shipping executive says he is lucky to be alive after escaping execution - allegedly at the hands of his father-in-law - by paying off the hitman himself.

A hit was allegedly taken out against Oleg Mitnik by the father of his estranged wife, Ronit Mitnik, with whom he is embroiled in a multi-million dollar divorce and custody battle.

However Mitnik negotiated with his would-be killers - who were to be paid $100,000 for the assassination - by agreeing to pay the agreed amount plus an additional $25,000 sweetener.

Outside Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, where Mitnik is fighting for custody of his two teenage children, he told The New York Post: 'I'm happy I stay alive.'

Mitnik runs TRT International, a freight-shipping company in Newark.

According to reports, he approached the FBI last year after one of his father-in-law's associates requested a meeting with him at a restaurant in Brooklyn.

Mitnik and his wife have been separated for at least three years, it is believed. 

Mitnik was informed at the meeting that a $100,000 hit had been taken out against him by his father-in-law, Anatoly Potik, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

However the associate offered to spare Mitnik's life for the sum of $125,000.

Mitnik agreed to pay $50,000 by check to cancel the hit. The rest of the money would then follow, as per the agreement.

The would-be hitman, Boris Nayfeld, along with an associate, Boris Kotlyarsky, were soon arrested by the FBI on extortion charges.

Police claim the pair accepted sums of $50,000 from both Mitnik and Potik.

Potik, a Long Island businessman, was also arrested on a charge of murder for hire. 

He is yet to face court. 

Speaking to The Post outside court Friday, Mitnik said he could not elaborate further on any of the cases he is involved with.

'The FBI told me not to say anything. There are more charges coming,' he told the newspaper.

However, according to the federal complaint detailing the alleged hit on her husband, Ronit told her husband 'late in the evening' on January 20 that she 'would entertain a proposed settlement' if he 'would tell law enforcement he had made things up'.

The former couple are fighting out a divorce worth a reported $20 million.

Once upon a time the pair, along with their children, were regulars on the Hamptons social scene, before their marriage unraveled.