You're reading: Trial set for Fletcher, alleged US scam artist

After more than three years in detention, American fraudster Robert Fletcher will finally go to court over criminal charges that allege he led a criminal organization, committed large-scale fraud along with eight other suspects and forged documents from 2006 to 2008.

Prosecutors on May 22 submitted the criminal indictment against Fletcher to the Kyiv Appellate Court. It alleges that he ran a fraudulent financial scheme that swindled $12.67 million from 200 victims.

Fletcher, 49, has been jailed in the capital’s notorious Lukyanivka detention center since November 2008.

The U.S. citizen faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

Fletcher’s lawyer, Hlib Pyliavyn, said preliminary hearings in the trial will commence in a month at the Desniansky District Kyiv City Court.

Ivan Bondaruk, the lawyer representing the victims in the case, said: “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 came to Ukraine in search of a wife in 2006. Soon afterward, the self-proclaimed millionaire started Global Systems Training, which promised to make participants wealthy. He allegedly charged up to $3,000 for training sessions and sold educational materials.

Fletcher and his team also allegedly offered investment opportunities in businesses, promising 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 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 enter Russia by train. He spent 10 days in jail and was released on bail for $6,400.

As of May 23, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said there were five U.S. citizens in pretrial detention, four of whom are in Kyiv.

Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].