You're reading: Ukrainian employee of U.S. Embassy in Kyiv suspected of involvement in visa-fraud scheme

A ring of 20 people in the United States and five in Ukraine was uncovered that allegedly helped Ukrainian nationals to obtain visas to America in a fraudulent way.

A long-time U.S. Embassy employee in Kyiv is suspected of using her inside knowledge of the process to help Ukrainians fraudulently obtain visas to America.

A ring of 20 individuals in the United States and five in Ukraine is suspected of helping Ukrainian nationals illegally obtain visas to America using fake or forged application documents. The scam was broken up by U.S. and Ukrainian authorities, the Interior Ministry said on Oct. 31.

The U.S. Embassy employee involved is an unidentified Ukrainian woman who is believed to have worked at the U.S. Commercial Service Department for 10 years. Working undercover and cooperating with FBI counterparts, members of Ukraine’s organized crime unit say that more than 40 individuals received U.S. visas using this scheme and paying up to $12, 000 for the service.

They paid much more than the $131 to $331 visa application fee. But the scheme boosted their chances of getting to America. An estimated 30 percent of the 60, 000 annual non-immigration visa applicants at the U.S. Embassy are denied, according to embassy figures.

On Oct. 29, the unnamed U.S. Embassy employee was detained by Ukrainian police, authorities said. She was questioned and has since been released. The criminal case is ongoing. She along with four other Ukrainian nationals could face charges of “fraud” and “forging documents.”

U.S. officials have emphasized that the woman didn’t work in the embassy’s consular section. She worked in a separate building and didn’t have direct access to visas or their processing. Still, at least one person close to the embassy expressed embarrassment about the “extremely unpleasant” incident.

Sources close to the U.S. Embassy speculated that the woman could have supplied visa applicants with coaching advice, forged or falsified documents, or a combination of fraudulent means for them to misrepresent themselves during the application and interview process in return for monetary gain.

According to the FBI, a multi-agency investigation was launched in December 2007 when a tip was received that individuals in the Cleveland, Ohio, Ukrainian community were involved in a scheme to bring foreign nationals to the United States. They allegedly assisted foreign nationals in illegally obtaining genuine Ohio driver’s licenses for a fee. The licenses were issued by one of the alleged conspirators, Sonya Hilaszek, a deputy registrar at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV).

Between 300 to 500 drivers licenses were sold for between $1, 500 and $3, 000 to individuals, mostly from the former Soviet Union, who could not obtain lawful driver’s licenses. Often, the buyers were persons who did not have valid immigration status in the U.S.

“This is serious business,” Frank Figliuzzi, special agent in charge of the Cleveland division of the FBI, told a Cleveland TV station. “We’re talking about entry into the United States. There are obviously national security repercussions.”

The investigative team from Cleveland, the FBI’s legal attache office in Kyiv, and Ukrainian diplomatic security service special agents assigned to the U.S. Embassy, investigated the Ukrainian criminal group jointly with the Internal Affairs’ organized crime unit over the course of “many months.” The FBI also said that the ring has operated for at least four years.

While authorities haven’t released the names of the alleged Ukraine-based members of the criminal operation, Ukrainian nationals from Cleveland Vitaly Fedorchuk, the alleged leader, and Pavlo Mostranskyy, the alleged middleman, are in custody as well as Hilaszek, the BMV employee from Parma, Ohio. They are being charged with federal crimes.

There have been similar visa scheme cases cracked around the world.

In March 2008, a racket involving Indian film actors and directors was busted for allegedly helping an unspecified number of people obtain U.S. visas through illegal means. In February 2009, eleven individuals were arrested due to their involvement in a fraud operation in which H-1B visas were sponsored by companies looking for temporary workers in specialized fields. The visas were sponsored fraudulently.