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Monday, August 06, 2007
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK --
A United Nations translator was arrested Monday on charges that he and two others used U.N. stationery in a visa fraud scheme, prosecutors said.
Vyacheslav Manokhin, a U.N. employee based in Manhattan, was accused of helping numerous non-U.S. citizens enter the country illegally by providing fraudulent documents so they could obtain visas to attend conferences that either did not exist or which they did not attend.
The charges in the scheme, which prosecutors said began in April 2005 and was continuing, were outlined in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin N. Fox set $300,000 bail for Manokhin, 45, a Greenwich, Conn., resident who is a Russian citizen. He also set $250,000 bail for a co-defendant, Vladimir Derevianko, of Bloomfield, N.J., a translator who works for a Manhattan lawyer. A third defendant was scheduled to appear in court later.
All three were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud with regard to immigration documents, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.
At a bail hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz said the conspiracy was part of a global network that provided fake documents that permitted people to cross borders illegally in exchange for payments of as much as $15,000.
"They're good at copyright lawyer free consultation it," he said of the defendants. "If they walk out of this court, they will run."
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Manokhin lawyer Alex Oh said her client had lived in the United States for 19 years. "He does not want to return to Russia," she said. "He will contest these allegations vigorously."
Derevianko attorney David Stern said his client was a man of "generous spirit" who cared for his sick mother and had helped numerous people for free.
Stern said his client, who was living in the United States legally after winning an asylum case, worked as copyright lawyer job description a translator for an immigration lawyer who so trusted him that he was willing to sign for his bail.
According to court documents, Manokhin used his U.N. position to make it appear as though the U.N. supported the visa applications so that aliens could enter the United States to attend conferences organized by non-government organizations or the United Nations itself.
Prosecutors said Manokhin admitted patent lawyer job description to a U.N. investigator that he had allowed an alien to use his U.N. telephone number as a contact number on immigration documents and that he would say that visa applicants were legitimate U.N. conference attendees if anyone asked.
According to the court papers, Manokhin conspired with two others to sneak at least 14 people the country illegally. Authorities said he submitted documents on U.N. letterhead purported to be signed by a non-existent U.N. official _ Leonardo Brackett.
U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. informed U.S. authorities on July 27 that it had waived diplomatic immunity for Manokhin, a Russian translator.
Haq said that "as of right now, Vyacheslav Manokhin has not been suspended" from his U.N. job.
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Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Monday, August 06, 2007
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK --
A United Nations translator was arrested Monday on charges that he and two others used U.N. stationery in a visa fraud scheme, prosecutors said.
Vyacheslav Manokhin, a U.N. employee based in Manhattan, was accused of helping numerous non-U.S. citizens enter the country illegally by providing fraudulent documents so they could obtain visas to attend conferences that either did not exist or which they did not attend.
The charges in the scheme, which prosecutors said began in April 2005 and was continuing, were outlined in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin N. Fox set $300,000 bail for Manokhin, 45, a Greenwich, Conn., resident who is a Russian citizen. He also set $250,000 bail for a co-defendant, Vladimir Derevianko, of Bloomfield, N.J., a translator who works for a Manhattan lawyer. A third defendant was scheduled to appear in court later.
All three were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud with regard to immigration documents, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.
At a bail hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz said the conspiracy was part of a global network that provided fake documents that permitted people to cross borders illegally in exchange for payments of as much as $15,000.
"They're good at copyright lawyer free consultation it," he said of the defendants. "If they walk out of this court, they will run."
0
Manokhin lawyer Alex Oh said her client had lived in the United States for 19 years. "He does not want to return to Russia," she said. "He will contest these allegations vigorously."
Derevianko attorney David Stern said his client was a man of "generous spirit" who cared for his sick mother and had helped numerous people for free.
Stern said his client, who was living in the United States legally after winning an asylum case, worked as copyright lawyer job description a translator for an immigration lawyer who so trusted him that he was willing to sign for his bail.
According to court documents, Manokhin used his U.N. position to make it appear as though the U.N. supported the visa applications so that aliens could enter the United States to attend conferences organized by non-government organizations or the United Nations itself.
Prosecutors said Manokhin admitted patent lawyer job description to a U.N. investigator that he had allowed an alien to use his U.N. telephone number as a contact number on immigration documents and that he would say that visa applicants were legitimate U.N. conference attendees if anyone asked.
According to the court papers, Manokhin conspired with two others to sneak at least 14 people the country illegally. Authorities said he submitted documents on U.N. letterhead purported to be signed by a non-existent U.N. official _ Leonardo Brackett.
U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. informed U.S. authorities on July 27 that it had waived diplomatic immunity for Manokhin, a Russian translator.
Haq said that "as of right now, Vyacheslav Manokhin has not been suspended" from his U.N. job.
___
Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.