Original subtitles

[tense notes]

- I worked for King & Mockovak

because I believed in them as surgeons.

- He's my boss, and he's probing me whether or not

my so-called "Russian connections"

can organize a murder.

- He has a $5 million key-man insurance policy.

- So many people damaged over one person.

- I was just, like, stunned.

In that moment, I started to tear up.

- If there's a point to back out, this would be it.

[dramatic music]

- In 2005, down in Renton outside of Seattle,

Joe King and Michael Mockovak

launch Clearly Lasik laser eye surgery.

It was a big deal.

They immediately were dominant in the region.

- I believed in working for King and Mockovak

because I believed in them as surgeons,

and I loved their personality,

and I believed in their company.

- They were great employers,

both of them.

Loved my job.

I loved the people I worked with.

- My brother met Mockovak when they were both

working together at Lasik Vision in California.

Both were hired surgeons at that time,

working together during the "heydays"

of laser eye surgery,

and that's where the connection

between the two of them came.

- Dr. King and Dr. Mockovak

not only worked together as partners;

they were also married to sisters, Holly and Heather.

- The meeting of my daughters and their husbands

was quite an interesting situation.

Heather had met Joe on a dating site

and had talked to him for about six months,

but she was too embarrassed to go meet him by herself.

Joe called up and said, "Hey,

"why don't you come on over and meet me.

I'm having a party at my home over at the lake."

And she says, "Well, I've got my sister, Holly, in town,

and could I bring her?"

And he says, "Sure, bring her."

[chuckles] It didn't take long

at all for Joe and Holly to

realize that they were attracted to each other.

Maybe a month or two later, my other daughter,

Heather, was down at the Renton office with Holly,

and here comes Michael out.

He puts his eyes on Heather,

and that one there was it.

Joe came to me to ask for Holly's hand.

It wasn't too long later

that Michael asked for Heather's hand.

When Holly decided to move near Bellevue,

two weeks later I hear that Michael and Heather

had bought a place next to Joe and Holly.

I was just a little curious why they would want to

live next to each other

when they have to work with each other all the time.

- There were three different locations

that my brother was living at

and that for whatever reasons of circumstances,

you know, Mockovak is ending up going to within a mile

of every single location.

So I definitely thought it was a little bit odd,

but I knew that he wanted to be like my brother.

- Around 2006, we had a new CEO.

Brad Klock was hired to help manage these two

and build their company, Clearly Lasik, out.

- I was hired by Brad Klock.

He came across as a very professional CEO.

He seemed very business-savvy in opening up offices

all over Canada and the Pacific Northwest in U.S.

- They just wanted to keep expanding and

loving that that focus could be

solely put on the medical aspect,

and entrust the rest to Brad Klock.

- Dr. King's the face of the company primarily

because he could do surgery in both Canada and the U.S.

whereas Mockovak was stuck on the U.S. side.

He was only licensed in the U.S.

- I've performed over 50,000

laser vision correction procedures,

and I've had my own vision corrected with LASIK.

I can tell you it's one of the best things I have ever done.

- Dr. King became more recognizable

just on a broader scale,

and Dr. Mockovak

was just kind of a little bit behind the scenes.

- Mockovak respected people that he could tell

were working hard for the company,

and there was kind of a closeness

that started to form between Daniel and Dr. Mockovak.

- Michael Mockovak and I, we did play chess

a few times in the office.

I did notice that he's opening up more,

and it seemed like

he wanted to have sort of a friend in the office.

- When I first met Daniel,

he was a hard nut to crack.

- He was quite intimidating,

so his personality was very, very private.

Eventually we got to the point where we'd made up a story

of how he worked for the Russian mafia.

- I'm not Russian mafia,

but I think even Mockovak said once,

"Russian mafia's in the house.

All our problems are gonna be taken care of now."

[laughs]

- After our large expansion plan,

we weren't hitting the results

that we were initially aiming for.

- If you're not getting the results,

they had to kind of make some cuts,

and they had decided

to terminate their CEO, Brad Klock.

- Klock's removal from his CEO position

had not gone well,

and so he files a wrongful-termination lawsuit

claiming about $750,000 in damages.

- Both doctors were quite angry

about the lawsuit from Brad,

except they were showing it differently.

Joe King was very quiet and kept it to himself.

Mockovak, on the other hand, was very vocal

and outspoken about this.

Everybody in the office knew

that Mockovak is upset with Brad suing the company.

As Michael and I spent more time together in the office

playing chess one on one,

Mockovak was probing me during conversations

whether or not my so-called Russian connections

can organize a murder.

Mockovak started asking about

a possibility of getting rid of Brad

because he was suing the company

for wrongful termination.

I couldn't believe it.

This is not just a joke anymore.

He's actually thinking about killing another person.

I had to tell someone.

I could not keep this as a secret.

I knew someone who had contact

with Federal Bureau of Investigation.

So I reached out, and I said if it's possible

to meet with any of the FBI folks.

So I met with Seattle FBI Detective Len Carver.

I told him that I have a boss

who seems like looking for

to hurt another person.

- We want to know at this time,

"Is Dr. Mockovak

"really planning to kill Brad Klock,

or is he just an angry guy

who's spewing with his friend?"

- Once I told FBI about this, I definitely felt relief

because I believe Mockovak wanted Brad

to disappear permanently.

- We asked Dan if he would be willing

to take a recording device

into his next face-to-face with Dr. Mockovak,

and Dan agreed.

It's not ideal for us to use someone like Dan Kultin,

a civilian, as a law enforcement operative,

but there is already the back story of the Russian mafia,

and then there is the friendship

and the level of trust that Mockovak has with Dan.

To try to introduce a law enforcement person

at that juncture would be very difficult.

There was no live transmission.

We told Dan just to keep the device on his person,

to go and have his meeting,

after which we would then collect

and listen to the recording to see

if this case warrants a more involved investigation.

- I could not understand how a person can

talk about murdering someone

with no emotions.

Seemed like, "Oh, piece of cake."

- The Klock thing looks like the lawsuit

might not be going anywhere.

They could either settle or it'll get thrown out.

- And then all of the sudden in that conversation he said,

"Let's talk about killing Joe

instead of Brad."

- I just couldn't even imagine

such a thing as killing a father.

- Well, we only got two hours.

Got to get that conversation. Got to get that money.

- I don't like your freaking out.

That's what I'm talking about. Don't freak out.

- Everything was kind of getting to an end

because we are really planning an actual murder.

[tense music]

- Dr. King and Dr. Mockovak

were the two owners at Clearly Lasik.

Michael Mockovak tells me that

he wants to kill Joe King.

- Clearly Lasik is just going great,

and then from 2007 to 2008

while the recession was sweeping over the country,

their revenue dropped $7 million.

I mean, the business just kind of crashed.

- Dr. King did confide in me that

things were not going well

and that there might've been

a potential dissolve in the business.

- So Dr. King has given Mockovak an ultimatum.

Like, "We are splitting this business up

"at the end of October.

We are done being partners."

- Dr. King was very successful still working

in the Canadian market covering a lot more

because the Canadian market wasn't affected by the bubble

that we all experienced here.

So at the time, Dr. King was ready to say,

"You know what? I'm doing all the work.

This business partnership no longer makes sense."

- The Canadian centers would become Dr. King's,

and Dr. Mockovak would keep the American centers.

And it wasn't so much about which one was profitable

and which one wasn't. It was more about Dr. Mockovak

didn't have surgical rights in Canada,

so what would be the point?

- The difficult part was to keep it all to myself

while I know what he's actually planning on doing.

That's why I felt relieved every time I spoke with the FBI

because they were the only person who knew about it.

- We learned during this meeting

that we have a clear target shift.

He shifts his murderous intentions

to business partner, Joe King.

- We'd hear little rumors that Mockovak's not in a good place,

that he'd break down in tears at the end of a surgery day.

There was other times he would just be angry

and tossing stuff around.

- One day, I was asked

to take some documents over to Mockovak.

So I went over there, and he broke down into my arms

and told me that he was getting a divorce.

- Heather first came to me and told me that

she felt she should get a divorce.

She was having trouble getting along with Michael,

and that it... She said, "Dad, it's just not gonna work."

- Michael Mockovak is starting to lose control of his life,

and he's a man that likes to be in control.

He saw himself as, like, a leader,

pillar of the community, rich guy... Like,

these are the things that he felt

he was entitled to in his life,

and then that all started sliding away.

He ends up getting divorced.

- So Mockovak wanted to meet again.

The FBI told me that they're gonna wire me up again.

Gets recorded. They can listen to it later.

- Time was on our side.

Nothing seemed to be happening right away.

There didn't seem to be a desire immediately

for things to happen, so we were treading lightly.

- They were in a heavily populated area.

We did not need any close-in surveillance on Dan.

- At this point, there is really no way out.

I'm already an accomplice in this with him,

so I had to play this role of

basically being his co-murderer.

- Dr. King was getting ready to go on his trip to Australia.

He was excited for the sun, the beach, the warmth.

- They were gonna rent a van and...

One that you could sleep in

and take the kids over there

and giving the kids all their time.

That was valuable to them.

- Once we finished lunch,

him and I went outside of the Bellevue athletic club,

and we just kind of walked on the sidewalk

away from the parking lot

where it was just the two of us,

and he felt very comfortable

talking about the actual murder.

[tense music]

- So as I listen to these recordings,

it's just very disturbing.

Many law enforcement officers and FBI agents

had Lasik surgery performed by Dr. Mockovak.

So to hear Dr. Mockovak

planning the murder of Dr. King,

it's just... It's very surreal.

- He doesn't try to negotiate.

He doesn't say that it's too much,

and so he's there.

He continues to be on board.

- Mockovak's quietly then stashing cash.

He will try to learn the travel itinerary of Joe King.

So he's clearly planning to use Kultin's contacts

to carry out Joe King's murder.

There is a discussion whether we let Dr. King

know what's going on or not.

Not knowing how Dr. King and his family would react,

the likelihood of compromising

the entire investigation existed.

So the decision was made to keep it mum.

- So the next meeting took place

at the Maggiano's restaurant.

The FBI's instructions for that meeting were to

talk specifics of the murder.

- This time they gave me video equipment.

We wanted to record the money transfer.

- The classic defense to any criminal charge is,

"It's not me. You got the wrong guy."

If I have you on video doing it,

that pretty much takes that defense off the table.

- We have got to convince the court that it was clear

that this is not a crime

that was manufactured by law enforcement

or its agents or its informants;

that this crime originated in the mind of the target,

Dr. Mockovak.

At the restaurant, there were law enforcement agents

watching the meeting between the two men.

- This time they really wanted me to get the details.

They gave me tons of questions to ask and how to react

and you know, basically what to say.

- As we moved forward,

some of the things that were missing

are we're gonna need the overt act:

The payment, a delivery of the flight plans,

photographs of the family.

This is going to be

Dr. Mockovak bringing the murder to fruition.

- The logical response is,

"Oh, just look at him on the internet,"

because they're all over the internet.

But immediately he remembers this family portrait.

- This is, for me, a "holy crap" moment.

Dr. Mockovak has a $5 million key-man insurance policy.

He is greedy and is willing to murder for money

and full control of the LASIK surgery centers.

- He was just like, business as usual.

It felt like he was just doing business

by getting rid of one of the business partners.

- All of a sudden,

as we're talking about

this gruesome murder,

someone takes a picture.

- So when this random flash goes off,

I had to think very fast.

I was nervous because I didn't know what he could think.

He might think that I'm getting him on camera.

- There was no plan for them to get up and leave.

It took the agents aback because that was not something

that they had anticipated happening.

- So he wanted me to go with him to his car.

He told me that he has a gun

in his glove compartment in his car.

I was scared.

[tense music]

- So he wanted me to go with him to his car.

- He told me that he has a gun

in his glove compartment in his car.

I was scared.

- It was not going to be possible

for those agents

to continue that close-in surveillance.

They were intercepting some of the transmissions,

so they knew where Dan was going.

- His car was parked way downstairs in the garage,

and my car was parked upstairs,

so I drove him in my car to his car.

- I realize that if we go to the parking garage,

the FBI who were listening will not be able to hear.

Who knows what's gonna happen?

- The on-scene investigators decided

that they would not tail the two men

into the bowels of the parking garage for two reasons.

Number one, we're getting very close.

It's coming to a head.

And number two, if it were discovered

and indeed Mockovak were armed and out of control,

then we've even further

jeopardized the safety of our source.

- He was tipsy, and FBI wasn't listening at that moment.

- Dan's at risk.

All we can do while they're down there

is wait and hope for the best.

- The plan was to have Mockovak

purchase an item online from the Russian mafia

which looked like it was an expensive item.

Let's say a $15,000 watch.

But in reality, they would send him a cheap replica instead.

I had to make up that in Russia that means a lot.

It's like being connected for life.

If we play chess, that's a big thing.

So I just made that thing up on the fly.

- [laughs]

[laughs]

[laughter]

When we finally left each other in the parking garage,

I was... I felt relieved that, "I'm alive.

Yeah, I didn't get the money from him

like I was supposed to,"

but I felt I was really nervous.

It just was too dangerous for me.

- We don't really have a case.

We need Dr. Mockovak to take the substantial step,

the overt act, toward completing the crime.

That was very important from an investigative component

and piece of evidence.

We needed another meeting

between Dan Kultin and Michael Mockovak,

but first we had Dan call Dr. Mockovak.

[line trilling]

We thought it was important

to give him an opportunity to back out.

- And my mind immediately spun up

that "This is the back-out.

This is the point that I'm done."

And if there's a point to back out,

this... this would be it.

[tense music]

- During the course of the investigation,

we've gotten great murder talk,

but we also, as investigators, thought it was important

to give Dr. Mockovak an opportunity to back out.

- Mm-hmm.

- Oh, yeah.

- It was important for us to capture Dr. Mockovak

on video delivering the payment for the hitman,

the travel plans for Joe King's family,

and the photograph of Joe King's family.

- Law enforcement officials are watching the two men.

- I was nervous, but at the same time

I knew that I had this thing I had to do

'cause I already postponed it once.

I didn't want to postpone it again.

- We got to bring it home.

If Dr. Mockovak is going to have Joe King killed,

he's got to say, "Okay.

"Let's do the deed. I'm paying you the money.

"Here's how to find him, and the next time we speak,

"you should be reporting back to me

that he's met his demise."

- He tells Dan to count the money

to ensure that it's all present, and Dan does so.

[laughter]

- I liked him as my boss,

but I realize at that point...

He was evil.

- It was clear that he had an intent

to kill Dr. King at the end.

And not only did he say so, he followed through.

He delivered money.

He delivered Dr. King's travel itinerary

and the picture of Dr. King,

his wife, Holly, and their family.

- We clearly had probable cause for an arrest.

On the day of the arrest,

we set up a surveillance operation.

He traveled to a nearby gym

where he was going to work out.

[sirens wailing]

We arrested him in his gym clothes

to be assured that he was not armed in any capacity.

[dramatic music]

- Once they arrested him,

one of the FBI agents came to our office,

and we had to tell the senior management what's going on.

- At the time, I just remember sliding down the wall

and trying to breathe again.

Um...

- We got a phone call from Sheree,

and she was beside herself, like could hardly breathe,

could hardly talk.

- Our whole world

was torn apart from us that very moment,

and it was the hardest thing to grasp.

- I was just, like, stunned, like, completely...

Like, I recall, like, in that moment, I started to tear up.

I never in my mind thought that he was capable

or that he had that sort of mal intent towards my brother,

and so I was completely just blown away at that moment.

- I get a call from Joe's brother,

and he told me, he says, "Mark,

Michael Mockovak has ordered a hit on Joe."

I just couldn't even imagine such a thing

as killing a father of a beautiful family.

I just... I was in tears.

I was with Heather shortly after.

She was totally blown away.

It just kills you to see your children

hurt in a thing like this.

- When I called my brother,

and now he's kind of hearing this information,

it was incredibly intense

and really surreal

and a lot of fear.

- It's been a terrifying few days for us.

Our family's very afraid.

I am tremendously concerned that if he is released,

he'll come to finish the job.

- Dr. Mockovak was able to post bond on $3 million.

- Now we had to deal with the fear of

"Where does it end for him?" If he's desperate,

would he come after more people than just the King family?

- We are standing by the window in the office,

and we see Michael Mockovak's black Lexus

pulling into the parking lot,

and someone yells, "That's Mockovak.

He's coming back to the office."

Everyone started panicking.

And then five, ten minutes later,

the SWAT team shows up.

[siren wails]

[indistinct police radio chatter]

And they're all pointing at the black Lexus.

And next thing you know, instead of Mockovak,

there is this real estate lady who also had this black Lexus.

- And this poor woman had guns surrounding her car

because they thought that Mockovak was there.

That was the fear that came from this whole incident.

- I cannot imagine the fear.

It weighed heavily on the King family.

Holly King's sister was married to him.

He was at one time

a loved and trusted family member.

- Joe and Holly King, they were living in hotels.

They were moving around, you know, different places

because they didn't want to be any place

where he could find them.

- That was a very terrifying time,

and especially for Holly, like,

it was just frightening the idea that this is somebody

that has planned to kill your husband,

and this is now a person that is able to be out on bail.

- Lasik eye surgeon Michael Mockovak is accused

of trying to hire a hitman

to kill his business partner, Dr. Joseph King,

and Brad Klock.

- Mockovak hired three of the

strongest criminal defense attorneys in town.

- We all know that the defenses are gonna be two things.

There's joking or entrapment.

- The first person who brings up Joseph King

and the insurance policy,

not Dr. Michael Mockovak, but Daniel Kultin.

[tense music]

- The first person who brings up Joseph King

and the insurance policy,

not Dr. Michael Mockovak, but Daniel Kultin.

- Entrapment is a real thing.

It's kind of a delicate dance in these cases.

- You look at those tapes,

you know, you listen; he's not kidding.

So the only defense is, he was entrapped.

- [laughs]

- The star witness in this case was Daniel.

He... he was...

Everyone was waiting to hear from him,

and he was the lifeblood of the prosecution's case.

- I got a sense that he wanted him to...

disappear.

- And what did "disappear" mean?

- Um...

kill him.

That was definitely

a difficult experience to go through.

- Daniel was an absolute civilian.

He was a bystander in this. This wasn't...

He did nothing to put himself in this position

other than do the right thing

when his boss came to him looking for a hitman.

- Is it a possibility?

Of course it's a possibility

that he could be found to be not guilty.

- You know, you never know

how a jury is gonna react.

It's a horrible situation.

- On the day of the verdict, the King family was there.

- We, the jury, find the defendant,

Michael Emeric Mockovak,

guilty of the crime of solicitation

to commit murder in the first degree.

- They found him guilty of all counts,

save for the charge

involving the solicitation to murder Brad Klock.

- I was at the office when we found out

that the verdict was guilty.

We all shouted with joy, like...

I think I probably ran from my office going,

"Oh, my God. He's guilty. He's guilty."

- It definitely felt like it was a relief.

- Michael Mockovak is led into court

shackled in a jail jumpsuit,

here to learn his punishment for hiring a hitman

to kill his business partner, Dr. Joe King.

- On March 17, 2011,

Dr. Mockovak was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

- After 20 years when he gets out,

I don't know what kind of person he's gonna be.

Will he want to murder more people when he gets out,

or will he actually learn his lesson?

I don't know.

- I think that

the year and a half of trauma

we had with him out on bail was incredibly stressful.

And I think it's gonna have a period of adjustment

realizing that he's actually locked away.

- I think even from behind prison...

Prison bars,

there's a risk to us.

But certainly the risk is far less

than if he were a free man.

- I wasn't happy.

The whole thing is not a happy deal.

You know, part of me says,

"Michael, why?

Why'd you ruin your life?"

So many people damaged

over one person's move.

- My brother doesn't feel comfortable

living in the United States.

He went up and is, you know,

brought his family and living in Canada,

and that's always something

that plays on his mind is like,

"Well, when Mockovak gets free, like,

is he gonna do anything to harm his family?"

- I don't think they'll ever, ever be able to go back

to what we call a "normal life."

They're always gonna be

looking over their shoulder.

- There is a carnage of victims that were affected

by this case, by his bad decision,

and I don't think that the King family

will ever feel the same

that they felt about life before.

- If you're looking for a hero in all this, it's Daniel.

Daniel,

in all likelihood, saved Dr. King's life.

- Some people thought I was a hero.

Some people think I'm a snitch.

Would I do it again if same thing happens

or if I see someone somewhere is trying to murder someone?

Yeah. Absolutely.

- For more on "Murder For Hire,"

go to Oxygen.com.