Christopher Robert Metsos—also known as Pavel Kapustin—was no ordinary fugitive. As the alleged paymaster of Russia’s deep-cover spy ring in the United States, he stood at the center of Operation Ghost Stories, one of the most significant espionage cases since the Cold War. Arrested in Cyprus in 2010 on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent and laundering money, Metsos was granted bail—and then disappeared without a trace. With martial arts training, multiple aliases, and a talent for slipping across borders, he became a ghost in plain sight. Did he escape through Northern Cyprus with Moscow’s help, or simply vanish into the shadows? This episode explores the mystery of the spy who walked free.

This is Fugitive Files. Let’s get into it.