LOS ANGELES – A man who took part in a kidnapping-for-ransom scheme that led to the deaths of five people testified Tuesday he was initially tapped by the two ringleaders to collect money from people he was told hadn't paid their loans.

Ainar Altmanis, 47, was expected to be one of the prosecution's key witnesses in the trial of Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas, who are accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and slayings of five people over a four-month period in 2001-02.

Altmanis agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a lesser prison sentence.

Speaking through a translator, a slender and spectacled Altmanis took the stand and began recounting his role in the plot that prosecutors have argued was motivated by greed.

Altmanis, who was born in Latvia, testified that he met Kadamovas in 1997 and Mikhel three years later. Altmanis portrayed himself as a struggling businessman who failed twice to keep two stores afloat, but said Kadamovas was willing to help him out.

“He told me whenever I had financial problems in my life, I could come to him,” Altmanis said.

Kadamovas, however, asked for his friend's assistance in October 2001 when he said he needed someone to collect a loan from a real estate developer, Altmanis said. He soon found out that Kadamovas and Mikhel had a more sinister plan to deal with the developer, Meyer Muscatel.

“They told me how they were going to kidnap him,” Altmanis said.

Prosecutors said Muscatel was the first of five people who were kidnapped and eventually killed. Muscatel's body was weighted down and dumped over a bridge along the New Melones Reservoir near Yosemite National Park. It was discovered a few days later with hands bound and a plastic bag over the head.

The bodies of the other four victims – George Safiev, Rita Pekler, Nick Kharabadze and Alexander Umansky – were found in the reservoir by a dive team in March 2002 after Altmanis led authorities to the site.

Autopsies determined all the victims were either asphyxiated or strangled.

Prosecutors said Mikhel and Kadamovas purchased expensive cars and luxury homes after collecting $1.2 million in ransom paid by family members and associates of three victims.

Mikhel, 41, and Kadamovas, 39, have pleaded not guilty to charges that include conspiracy and hostage-taking resulting in death. If convicted, they could face the death penalty.

Another defendant, Petro Krylov, is scheduled for trial in January after pleading not guilty to similar charges.

Altmanis pleaded guilty in June 2002 to one count of conspiracy to commit hostage-taking and three counts of hostage-taking resulting in death.

The charges carried a possible death sentence, but prosecutors agreed to reduce the charges to voluntary manslaughter and promised to seek no more than a 20-year sentence.

He has yet to be sentenced. Prosecutors declined to say whether Altmanis was in protective custody, but a search of the federal prison population did not turn up his name.

Defense attorneys have argued that Altmanis and two others who have pleaded guilty and also are expected to testify during the trial have been promised favorable treatment and jurors shouldn't believe their testimony.

During opening statements, Mikhel's attorney, Richard Callahan, blamed the killings on Altmanis.

Mikhel was often animated during Altmanis hour-long testimony on Tuesday, shaking his head in disagreement and talking with his attorneys.