NOTE The following text is a quote:
http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1008/100819kansascity.htm
August 19, 2010
Sixth co-defendant pleads guilty to racketeering conspiracy
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man from Uzbekistan pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to his role in a criminal enterprise involving illegal aliens working in 14 states, including employees at hotels in the Kansas City, Mo., area and in Branson, Mo. This plea was announced by Beth Phillips, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Nodirbek N. Abdoollayev, 28, a citizen of Uzbekistan residing in Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith to the charge contained in a Jan. 7 superseding indictment.
Abdoollayev admitted that from February to October 2007 he participated in a racketeering enterprise with other individuals who were part of a visa fraud scheme.
The federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) indictment alleges an extensive and profitable criminal enterprise in which hundreds of illegal aliens were employed at hotels and other businesses across the country. The criminal enterprise used false information to acquire fraudulent work visas for these foreign nationals.
Abdoollayev used nominee entity Labor Fix International in his role as its vice president, and in his role as marketing manager for Giant Labor Solutions, to maintain labor leasing contracts and recruit foreign national workers to fulfill these contracts. Abdoollayev was responsible for facilitating about $407,128 in illegal proceeds, including H2B visa fees, and other payments from hotels, resorts and a roofing company staffed with unauthorized and illegal foreign workers.
Abdoollayev also assisted in recruiting foreign workers from Uzbekistan and in setting up a website for Giant Labor Solutions. He solicited hotel accounts as clients for Giant Labor Solutions and recruited H2B visa holders to fulfill these accounts.
Abdoollayev is the sixth co-defendant to plead guilty in this visa fraud scheme.
Andrew Cole, 55, of St. Charles, pleaded guilty to participating in the racketeering conspiracy and to fraud in foreign labor contracting on Aug. 18. Cole admitted that he was responsible for negotiating labor leasing contracts involving foreign nationals. Cole controlled Advantage Labor Services and represented Crystal Management Inc., which were both racketeering entities, for the purpose of supplying illegal foreign workers to fulfill labor leasing contracts.
Cole recruited workers from the Dominican Republic by falsely representing the terms, conditions, and nature of their employment as hotel workers in the Kansas City, Mo., area. At the time Cole recruited these foreign workers, he knew that they would not be paid the wages promised and that many of them would be sent outside the Kansas City area to work in factory positions in Alabama. Cole also knew that threats of deportation and other adverse immigration consequences would be made to these foreign workers by members of the criminal enterprise in order to maintain their labor. Cole also admitted that he assisted in transporting and housing illegal aliens in Wyoming, outside of the parameter of their visas, in substandard housing conditions.
Ilkham Fazilov, 45, a citizen of Uzbekistan residing Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to the racketeering conspiracy on Aug. 16. Fazilov was the nominee organizer of Five Star Cleaning LLC, and Suncoast Hospitality Inc., which were fictitious shell companies used to obtain work authorization for foreign nationals and conceal the unlawful proceeds of the criminal enterprise. Fazilov handled the payroll for the foreign workers and executed fraudulent ETA-750 petitions, which falsely claimed an exaggerated need for workers. These workers were placed for employment outside the parameters of the petition in violation of federal law. Fazilov also opened bank accounts for these shell companies and wire transferred unlawful proceeds to facilitate enterprise activities.
Jakhongir Kakhkharov, 30, a citizen of Uzbekistan, pleaded guilty to the same charge on March 16. Kakhkharov acted as head of Midwest Management Inc., a nominee entity established as part of the criminal enterprise to launder the illegal proceeds of the enterprise and to avoid paying taxes. Kakhkharov admitted that he laundered a total of $634,192 in unlawful proceeds between July and December 2007. He also admitted that he used apartments in the Kansas City, Mo., area to house illegal aliens between July 2007 and January 2008.
Alexandru Frumusache, 25, a citizen of the Republic of Moldova residing in Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty on Oct. 7, 2009 to forced-labor trafficking. Between September 2008 and the end of April 2009, Frumusache aided and abetted others in a scheme to cause foreign workers (including citizens from the Philippines, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica) to believe that they would be deported, or their H2B work visas would be cancelled, or they or their families members would be penalized with a $5,000 to $10,000 fee, if the foreign workers failed or refused to work where and when they were ordered to work.
Frumusache also admitted that he aided and abetted others in subjecting the foreign workers to terrible living conditions without food, furniture or appropriate sleeping arrangements. They assigned more foreign workers than each living space allowed and the foreign workers were subjected to sleeping on the floor or mattresses. They utilized the housing arrangement as an additional way to profit off of the foreign workers by overcharging them in rent and automatically withdrawing the fees from the foreign workers’ pay checks.
Abdukakhar Azizkhodjaev, 50, a citizen of Uzbekistan residing in Panama City, Fla., pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony. Azizkhodjaev admitted that, while he was employed at Giant Labor Solutions between June 2006 and December 2007, his employer failed to withhold payroll taxes from Azizkhodjaev’s salary, thus committing evasion of corporate employment tax. Azizkhodjaev concealed this offense by neglecting to file a tax return.
Under federal statutes, Abdoollayev is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William L. Meiners and Trial Attorney Jim Felte with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
This case was investigated by the following agencies: ICE-HSI, the FBI, U.S. Department of Labor, OIG’s Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation, the Kansas Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Independence, Mo., Police Department in conjunction with the Human Trafficking Rescue Project.
— ICE —
May 9, 2011
NOTE The following text is a quote:
kansascity.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/kc050911.htm
Uzbek Man Sentenced for Role in Multi-National Racketeering and Forced Labor Enterprise
WASHINGTON—An Uzbek national was sentenced today for his role as the leader of a illicit enterprise that engaged in numerous criminal activities including forced labor, fraud in foreign labor contracting, visa fraud, mail fraud, identity theft, tax evasion, and money laundering, the Department of Justice announced. Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev was sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $172,000 in restitution to the foreign worker fraud and forced labor victims, in addition to restitution for harm caused by other aspects of the criminal enterprise. Askarkhodjaev pleaded guilty in October 2010, to racketeering conspiracy, fraud in foreign labor contracting, evasion of corporate employment tax, and identity theft.
As leader of this multi-national criminal enterprise, whose members included nationals of Uzbekistan, Moldova, and the United States, Askarkhodjaev arranged for the recruitment and exploitation of dozens of workers from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and elsewhere, many of whom were recruited with false promises concerning the terms, conditions, and nature of their employment. Once in the United States, the workers were held in overcrowded apartments and compelled into service and hospitality jobs in as many as 14 states. Members of the criminal enterprise withheld much of the victims’ earnings and threatened them with deportation and financial penalties if they refused to comply with the defendants’ demands.
“The defendant directed a criminal organization that, out of pure greed, exploited the hopes and dreams of scores of foreign workers, degrading them through threats and deceit,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez. “The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute these cases and dismantle criminal networks that prey on vulnerable victims.”
“This case was the first in the country in which forced labor trafficking was charged as part of a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, conspiracy,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Beth Phillips. “Hundreds of illegal aliens working in 14 states were victims of modern-day slavery, including employees at hotels in the Kansas City, Mo., area and in Branson, Mo.”
Co-defendants Kristin Dougherty, Ilkham Fazilov, Viorel Simon, Nodirbek Abdollayev, Jakhongir Kakhkarov, Alexandru Frumusache, and Abdukakhar Azizkhodjaev were previously sentenced for their respective roles in this criminal enterprise. Dougherty was convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, and wire fraud and was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Fazilov was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to 41 months in prison. Simon was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and fraud in foreign labor contracting and was sentenced to 25 months in prison. Abdoollayev was convicted of racketeering and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Kakhkharov and Azizkhodjaev were convicted of racketeering conspiracy and misprision of a felony respectively, and both were sentenced to time served. Andrew Cole, who was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and fraud in foreign labor contracting, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10, 2011.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William L. Meiners, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford, and Deputy Chief Jim Felte of the Civil Rights Division. It was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor- Office of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service- Criminal Investigations, the Kansas Department of Revenue- Criminal Investigations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Independence, Mo., Police Department in conjunction with the Human Trafficking Rescue Project.