After more than three years, imprisoned American fraudster Robert Fletcher will finally go to court over criminal charges that allege he founded and led a criminal organization, committed large-scale fraud along with eight other suspects, and forged documents during 2006-2008.
Prosecutors on May 22 officially submitted to the Kyiv Appellate Court the criminal indictment against Fletcher that allege he ran a fraudulent financial scheme that swindled $12.67 million from 200 victims.
Fletcher, 49, has been incarcerated in the capital’s notorious Lukyanivka detention center since November 2008 awaiting trial on the criminal case that authorities say consists of 200 volumes.
The U.S. citizen faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. Authorities said they have placed $625,000 worth of property under arrest belonging to the nine charged in the indictment.
Fletcher’s lawyer Hlib Pyliavyn who has represented him since his arrest in Kyiv on Nov. 23, 2008 said Fletcher owns nothing in his name. Pyliavyn said that preliminary hearings in the trial will commence in a month and is scheduled to take place at the Desniansky District Kyiv City Court.
Ivan Bondaruk, the lawyer representing the victims in the case, said that Fletcher will be tried according to Ukrainian laws and serve time in a Ukrainian prison.
“I’ve no doubt in our upcoming victory and I will ask for the maximum punishment of 12 years for Fletcher,” stated Bondaruk.
Fletcher said he originally came to Ukraine to search for a wife some time in 2006. Soon afterward, the self-proclaimed millionaire guru started Global Systems Training, which promised to show aspiring entrepreneurs how to become successful business owners. He allegedly charged up to $3,000 for the training sessions on tours throughout Ukraine while selling translated educational materials that he produced on the subject.
Fletcher and his tight-knit team also allegedly offered trainees investment opportunities in purported existing businesses with yearly returns of 20 to 300 percent.
Fletcher has run into trouble with the law on previous occasions and he gained a reputation as a swindler in the U.S.. He faced civil, not criminal, lawsuits there.
After a civil case was launched against him, Fletcher was ordered in August 2007 to pay more than $5 million in fines and penalties by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for violating anti-fraud and registration provisions.
In Ukraine, he was caught with a fake Ukrainian passport on Nov. 9, 2007, while attempting to cross into Russia by train. He spent 10 days in jail and was released on bail for $6,400. He later paid a small fine.
In June 2008, the Dniprovsky precinct police station in Kyiv determined Fletcher had in his possession an internal Ukrainian passport, which he used to marry his wife, Olha Dubrovska of Luhansk. He used the same passport to register his residence in Kyiv on Sept. 29, 2007.
When asked to explain possession of the spurious passport, Fletcher told the Kyiv Post that he thought he was purchasing a passport for $70,000 because he was investing money in Ukraine and creating jobs much like the U.S. does by issuing residency permits to wealthy individuals who invest significant amounts of money into the country.
As of May 23, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said there were five U.S. citizens in pretrial detention, four of whom in Kyiv, and one in prison in Ukraine.
Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
