A laser eye surgeon with a clinic in Victoria was the target of an alleged international murder-for-hire plot by his business partner, the Times Colonist has learned.

Dr. Joseph King, 42, is the co-founder of Clearly Lasik, which operates at 3550 Saanich Rd., as well as at clinics in Vancouver, Edmonton, Seattle and Portland.

King’s business partner and ex-brother-in-law, Dr. Michael Mockovak, was charged Monday in Washington state with two counts of criminal solicitation to commit murder in connection with an alleged plot to kill King and former colleague Brad Klock.

Mockovak, 51, of Newcastle, Wash., is being held on $3-million US bail. He will be arraigned Wednesday.

According to an 11-page “probable cause” document filed in King County Superior Court by Seattle police laying out the case, Mockovak asked company employee Daniel Kultin if he had any Russian Mafia contacts.

Kultin — who emigrated to the U.S. from Russia at age 18 — thought his boss was joking, but when Mockovak persisted, Kultin called the FBI. Under the FBI’s supervision, Kultin led his boss to believe he would help arrange the hits on King and Klock.

According to court documents, Mockovak told Kultin he and King had plans to split the business in the fall of 2009. Mockovak was angry with how things were going and told the informant, “I hate people taking advantage of me, like Joe, he is a greedy snake.”

Another source of tension was the fact that Mockavak had recently divorced his wife, the sister of King’s wife, and a rift had developed between the two physicians, the document said.

Late last month, Mockovak told Kultin that King would be visiting Australia with his family Nov. 7-14. The court documents reveal that Mockovak said King would likely run on the beach, that death by drowning would be “not bad,” and that the man’s body would likely be needed if Mockovak hoped to get a piece of a $5-million life insurance policy King had taken out. (Mockovak claimed King’s life insurance policy listed Mockovak or Clearly Lasik as beneficiaries.)

King, Mockovak said, “had it coming,” the documents allege.

The court documents also reveal Mockovak told Kultin he slowly transferred funds from one bank account to another to avoid the suspicion that would be caused by removing a large amount of money at once.

On Nov. 7, the documents say, Mockovak gave Kultin $10,000 cash and provided a large picture of King with his family. He also gave Kultin a handwritten Post-It note with the King family’s flight information to Sydney, Australia.

Mockovak agreed to pay an additional $15,000 once the job was completed, as well as $100,000 to Kultin for setting it all up, the documents say.

Mockovak was arrested at a YMCA near his home on Nov. 12.

The court documents also allege Mockovak wanted to hire someone to kill Klock, the company’s former president.

Klock, born in Port Alberni, is a former professional hockey player hired in 2004 to run the company. He was fired in 2007 and has since filed a lawsuit in which both Mockavak and King are named.

On Monday, investigators met with King at the Seattle FBI offices. He and his family returned from Australia and are living in a Seattle-area hotel, fearing for their safety.

King told investigators Mockavak lives within a few blocks of his home and knows intimate details of their family life, including alarm codes to their home.

In a statement, King said he and his family were shocked to learn a business associate was allegedly planning to kill him.

“It is incomprehensible how someone could deliberately plan to take someone’s life and completely devastate a family. We feel very blessed to be alive,” the statement said.

According to a biography posted on Clearly Lasik’s website, King graduated from the University of B.C.’s faculty of medicine in 1992. He completed a postgraduate medical and surgical internship in Victoria and obtained ophthalmology specialty training in Ohio.

The biography says King has performed more than 50,000 laser eye surgeries. He and his wife have three young children.

On Tuesday, Clearly Lasik CEO Christian Monea issued a public statement saying it’s business as usual for the company’s 50 employees.

“All of the Clearly Lasik offices are open and scheduling appointments. Dr. King and the other physicians are performing all procedures and providing all patient care,” the statement said.

King has performed surgeries at all seven clinics owned by the company. Mockovak is not licensed to practice in Canada.

mpearson@tc.canwest.com