MOSCOW, February 9 - RAPSI. U.S. travel agency Riviera Travel & Tours has submitted a $3.5 million lawsuit against Aeroflot, claiming that its employee extorted money from the agency.

The lawsuit was submitted to the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California. Two airline employees Andrei Novokshonov and Alexei Alexandrov are named as the co-defendants. The plaintiff accuses the defendants of violating U.S. law, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and demands that the case be considered by jury.

According to the lawsuit, the applicant entered into a contract with Aeroflot, pursuant to which Riviera Travel & Tours was granted the exclusive right to the wholesale sales of its tickets to the United States. The Aeroflot administration chose the applicant as a partner because it was the only travel agency that did not try to bribe the airline's employees, the court materials state.

At the same time, the plaintiff maintains, as soon as the contract was concluded, Aeroflot's representatives in the United States started regularly extorting bribes from Riviera Travel & Tours. The situation worsened as the U.S. company's income grew.

Particularly, the court materials read, Anatoly Deloveri, then Aeroflot's general director in the United States, demanded that the plaintiff pay a percentage of the profits from ticket sales in 2007, threatening to terminate the contract.

The travel agency refused to pay, its representatives say, and as a result it was forced to assign the rights to the wholesale sales of Aeroflot's tickets to the Downtown Travel agency, retaining only the right to sell them abroad. At the same time, Aeroflot's representatives in the United States concealed the fact from the company's management in Moscow.

Additionally, the company's clients, who bought Aeroflot tickets, were not allowed to board the planes, claiming that the tickets were invalid. Eventually, the clients had to pay for their flights in cash and then demand compensation from the travel agency. The firm maintains that the incidents took place after Novokshonov was appointed the airline's general director in the United States, and after Alexandrov was appointed the company's representative in Los Angeles.

RAPSI has yet to obtain comments.

Meanwhile, the airline submitted a lawsuit against Riviera Travel & Tours and its head Karen Tumanyan in October. Aeroflot insisted that the U.S. company committed fraud, and it suffered losses amounting to no less than $315,000 as a result.

Riviera was involved in machinations with Aeroflot tickets from 2009 to 2010 when the company had yet to attain the status of an agent, according to the court materials, RAPSI reports.

The U.S. company refused to recognize Aeroflot's lawsuit, having submitted to the court the corresponding revocation. Bench trial has been set for October 16.