Eli had was currently enrolled at Northwestern University where he studied music, but he was then deported for an expired visa and for being listed on a terrorist watch list (having had dealings with The Shop). It was here that he was assigned to kidnap and deliver Sarah Fisher to two assassins, Vlad and Yuri, who worked for The Shop. Eli complied and captured Sarah Fisher after her best friend, Rivka Cohen, was murdered by Eli's best friend, Noel Brooks, according to plan.