The Marc Fogel story

Part 1: From darkness to light: Marc Fogel’s journey to freedom

Part 2: ‘Injustice system’: Marc Fogel maps legal strategy for court, and ultimately feels Russian wrath

Part 3: Life in Russian prisons

Part 4: Unexplained departure … and then a triumphant arrival to the U.S.

Part 5: Finding a new normal, and working through guilt; ‘We will be thankful for generations’

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Marc Fogel

Marc Fogel — Raised in Butler, Pennsylvania, Marc Fogel went to college to be a teacher. He began his career in Prince Georges County before taking a number of international teaching posts, including in Moscow, Russia, in 2012. On Aug. 14, 2021, as Forgel returned to Moscow to begin his tenth and final year teaching, he was arrested at Sheremetyevo International Airport for having medical marijuana in his luggage. He was held in Russian custody until Feb. 11, 2025, when he returned to the United States.

Jane Fogel

Jane Fogel — Jane Fogel was raised in {?}, and after college worked in advertising sales. In 1995, she moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and began teaching with Marc Fogel. The two got married in {?}, had two sons, and then spent the next 23 years teaching internationally.

Irina Pigman

Irina Pigman — Raised in Moscow, Pigman married an American who ran the transportation company that served the Anglo-American School where the Fogels worked. Pigman, who speaks four languages, became friends with the Fogels through her husband and then went on to serve as a court translator for Marc during his court hearings. She also visited him frequently during his detention in Moscow and later when he served his sentence at the penal colony in Rybinsk.

Sasha Phillips

Sasha Phillips — Phillips is an attorney practicing in Pittsburgh, though she came to the United States from Russia for undergraduate studies in West Virginia. Phillips worked with the Fogel family during Marc’s captivity, including helping to lobby government leaders and politicians. An artist, Phillips also helped bring attention to Marc’s plight through a number of exhibits and projects.

Steve Witkoff

Steve Witkoff — President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Witkoff is a native of the Bronx and a billionaire businessman. Trump tasked him with traveling to Russia in February 2025 to secure Marc Fogel. Witkoff spent three hours meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to securing Marc’s release. He then flew Fogel back to the United States aboard his private jet.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump — Just minutes before an assassination attempt at the Butler County Fairgrounds, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump met with Malphine Fogel, Marc’s mother. The 95-year-old urged Trump to secure her son’s release, which he promised to do if he won the presidency. Trump prevailed in the General Election, and just three weeks after taking office upheld his promise.

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Paula Reed Ward is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paula at pward@triblive.com or via X @PaulaReedWard

Paula Reed Ward

Paula Reed Ward joined TribLive in August 2020 as the courts reporter following a 17-year career at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where she was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Squirrel Hill. Raised in Pleasant Hills, Paula attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she majored in journalism. Her first job was at the Pottsville Republican & Evening Herald before spending five years as a police and courts reporter at the Savannah Morning News, in Savannah, Georgia. It was there that she also earned a master’s degree in criminal justice.

Paula teaches as an adjunct a Duquesne University and is also the author of the book, “Death by Cyanide: The Murder of Dr. Autumn Klein.”

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