His name appears in the Venona decryptions over fifty times, often as signatory,[1] and on his return to the Soviet Union in 1945/46, he rose to deputy chief of the KGB's 'illegal' intelligence section.

[2] (NOTE: Many details from Haynes and Klehr's Venona come from Veterany Vneshnei Razvedki Rossii [Moscow: Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, 1995], which forms the basis of their profile of him in their book's Appendix E.[2]) Akhmerov was born in Troitsk,[2] located in modern Chelyabinsk Oblast,[3] and came from a Tatar background.

[2] According to Pavel Sudoplatov, Akhmerov ran one of five spy rings targeting the United States for atomic bomb secrets.

In January or February 1937, just before Ignace Reiss defected from the Soviet underground, Massing received an assignment to spy on Ludwig Lore, and "Bill" resumed her management.

[5] Scholars John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr report that the FBI considered Elizabeth Bentley's "Bill" to be Akhmerov.

[2] He married Helen Lowry (AKA "Elza Akhmerova"), a niece of the CPUSA General Secretary Earl Browder and who also worked for Soviet intelligence.

A monument to him and his wife was created in Tatarstan[7] By the artist Rim Akchurin that features the Brooklyn Bridge, symbolizing his espionage work in New York, as well as the kremlins of Moscow and Kazan.