Immigration Crime: Stella Boyadjian Pleaded Guilty To Conspiracy To Visa Fraud, And Aggravated Identity Theft

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Leader of Queens-Based Non-Profit Organization Pleads Guilty for Her Role in Visa Fraud Scheme

<h2>Leader of Queens-Based Non-Profit Organization Pleads Guilty for Her Role in Visa Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><strong>Defendant Provided Armenian Nationals with Fake Dance Certificates and Staged Photos to Qualify for P-3 Visa Program for Entertainers<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn&comma; Stella Boyadjian&comma; the operator of a non-profit organization called Big Apple Music Awards Foundation Inc&period; &lpar;BAMA&rpar;&comma; based in Rego Park&comma; New York&comma; pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring aliens unlawfully into the United States&comma; visa fraud&comma; and aggravated identity theft&period; The guilty plea was entered before United States Magistrate Judge Sanket J&period; Bulsara&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Richard P&period; Donoghue&comma; United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York&comma; Brian A&period; Benczkowski&comma; Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division&comma; and Christian J&period; Schurman&comma; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security and Director for Diplomatic Security Service&comma; announced the guilty plea&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Between January 2013 and December 2014&comma; Boyadjian and others &lpar;the conspirators&rpar; engaged in a widespread visa fraud scheme to bring foreign nationals illegally into the United States by fraudulently claiming to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services &lpar;USCIS&rpar; that they were members of traditional Armenian performance groups and thus qualified for P-3 visas as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;culturally unique” artists or entertainers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The conspirators solicited foreign nationals and&comma; in exchange for fees up to &dollar;10&comma;000&comma; prepared and filed fraudulent P-3 visa applications&period; In furtherance of the scheme&comma; the conspirators purchased fraudulent documentation to support the applications&comma; including fake dance certificates and staged photo sessions where the foreign nationals wore Armenian dance costumes to make it appear as though they were traditional Armenian musicians&comma; singers and performers&period; Once successfully in the United States&comma; some recipients of the fraudulently obtained P-3 visas paid additional fees to the conspirators to obtain extensions of their stays in the United States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When sentenced&comma; Boyadjian faces a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment for visa fraud&comma; and an additional mandatory consecutive sentence of two years’ imprisonment for aggravated identity theft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case is a joint investigation by the Diplomatic Security Service’s Criminal Fraud Investigations and Overseas Criminal Investigations Divisions&comma; with assistance from the U&period;S&period; Citizenship and Immigration Services Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Gopstein and Trial Attorney Sasha N&period; Rutizer of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Defendant&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>STELLA BOYADJIAN<br &sol;>&NewLine;Age&colon; 48<br &sol;>&NewLine;Rego Park&comma; New York<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>E&period;D&period;N&period;Y&period; Docket No&period; 18-CR-57 &lpar;MKB&rpar;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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