Naturalized citizen accused in Sacramento of masterminding alleged immigration fraud




They posed for pictures and joined their names on apartment leases, but those and other routines common for newlyweds were all part of elaborate ruses to make sham marriages look real to immigration officers, say federal authorities.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner on Tuesday unveiled what he called a large-scale immigration fraud – the first of its kind to be charged in Sacramento – involving dozens of marriages arranged to illegally get foreign nationals permanent status in the United States.

Sergey Potepalov, a 55-year-old Citrus Heights resident, was described by Wagner as the ringleader. He, along with his chief lieutenant, Keith O'Neil, 44, and 12 others were charged two weeks ago in a sealed grand jury indictment with arranging or participating in marriages between recruited U.S. citizens and noncitizens from Eastern Europe and Russia, who paid up to five-figure fees. According to Wagner, nine of the 14 defendants are from the Sacramento area.

Calling the crime "pernicious" and "difficult to prove," the top prosecutor said it "takes advantage of compassionate and humanitarian provisions of the U.S. immigration laws intended to promote family unity, and twists them into a path to residency and citizenship based on fraud and deceit."

Potepalov and his accomplices "are alleged to have … earned substantial profits over a multiyear period," Wagner said. "Some U.S. citizen defendants were involved in multiple marriages."

Court documents relate that Homeland Security agents began investigating Potepalov in 2006 after receiving information from the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service indicating he was filing fraudulent visa petitions on behalf of Russian and Ukrainian nationals.

At least since 1999, the documents state, Potepalov himself "has aided and abetted at least 10 aliens in a marriage fraud scheme," using so-called fiancé visas obtained abroad or bogus marriages between noncitizens already in this country and U.S. citizens. Once married, the foreigner may apply for permanent residency, and later citizenship.

Potepalov, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Russian descent, was arrested at his home Monday morning by immigration agents. He and five others, all in custody in Sacramento, were arraigned Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows and entered not-guilty pleas.

Potepalov, along with Marla Brennan, 30, and Pavel Berezenko, 54, both from the Sacramento area, and Olga Nekrasova, 26, of San Francisco, were ordered detained pending bail hearings. Brian Barnes, 32, from the Sacramento area, was ordered held without bail. Marlena Colvin, 27, of the Sacramento area, was ordered released on a $25,000 unsecured bond co-signed by her sister.

The defense attorneys in court Tuesday were not acquainted with their clients or the evidence, and were not in a position to comment on the case.

More arrests are expected soon, Wagner said.

The 14-count, 44-page indictment charges Potepalov and O'Neil in an omnibus conspiracy count. According to the indictment and other court papers, the homeless O'Neil, who has a lengthy criminal history, met Potepalov in a Sacramento-area biker bar and the two immediately hit it off.

In 2002, the papers allege, O'Neil entered into a sham marriage in South Lake Tahoe with Anna Gnatyuk, who had lawfully come into the United States as a student. With the marriage certificate and help from Potepalov, she gained permanent residency two years later. In 2009, she applied for U.S. citizenship, but that application has not been acted upon. Meanwhile, the papers say, O'Neil admitted to two immigration officers in 2008 that the marriage was fraudulent.

Between 2003 and 2005, the papers say, O'Neil accompanied Potepalov on three trips to Moscow and filed petitions for fiancé visas on behalf of four women from Russia, Uzbekistan, and Armenia. All of the petitions were denied.

The other defendants include six foreign nationals who attempted to obtain fiancé visas and permanent residency through the scheme, and six U.S. citizens who agreed to marry them in return for promised payments of up to $5,000.

Also charged are Anthony Rivera, 35, Yuriy Korzhov, 47, and Richard Vargas, 36, all from the Sacramento area; Dumitru Sisianu, 25, Alina Turcan, 26, and Veranika Koushal, 32, all of Florida; and Aleksandr Krivokhizhin, 38, of Massachusetts.


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/27/379671 ... z1TIgogozy