Air Force veteran, musician, teacher
Michael "Travis" Leake was born in Bakersfield, California, on October 15, 1971. He has been held in Russia since June 6, 2023.
Service
He graduated from Bakersfield's West High School in 1989 and served in the United States Air Force in 1989–90 with the 832d Civil Engineering Squadron in Arizona, as a heating-and-air-conditioning mechanic. He never saw combat and never deployed to the Middle East. That plain service record matters, because the story told about him in Moscow invented a different one.
Education and music
He earned a bachelor's degree in English from California State University, Sacramento, and a master's from California State University, Los Angeles. He moved to Russia to teach English and stayed for the music. He fronted the Moscow grunge-metal band Lovi Noch, "Seize the Night," and managed Russian rock groups, most notably Louna, whom he brought to the United States on tour; the band stayed at his mother's home in Bakersfield. He appeared with Anthony Bourdain on CNN's Parts Unknown in 2014, describing on camera the Russian government's censorship of musicians.
He was a known, visible American in Moscow's music world. That made him easy to find. It did not make him a trafficker.
It is not a crime to teach English in Russia. It is not a crime to love heavy metal. It is not a crime to be an American.
What happened
Police searched his Moscow apartment on June 6, 2023, detained him, and charged him with drug trafficking. On July 18, 2024, Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court sentenced him to 13 years. Since July 2025 he has been held at IK-6 in Melekhovo, Vladimir Oblast. At trial, the witness behind the sale charges said police told her to report more than she had. Nothing seized was examined for fingerprints or DNA. His counsel asked the court to acquit "due to the absence of a crime event." He was convicted anyway.
Was he a paratrooper or a combat veteran?
No. He served in 1989–90 as a heating-and-air-conditioning mechanic with the 832d Civil Engineering Squadron in Arizona. He was never a paratrooper, never in combat, and never in Desert Storm. The "former paratrooper" and "Iraq war veteran" labels in some coverage are wrong. The correction →
Is he wrongfully detained?
The State Department has not designated him. His advocates have asked the Department to review the record and determine that he is wrongfully detained under the Levinson Act. For officials →