Every week the FBI press office provides a brief description of 10 high-profile cases that have been closed by their agents. Sometimes Russian cases figure in the list. Last week there were two of them: The high-profile arrests of 10 suspects who allegedly belong to Russian intelligence, and the international arrests of four of five Ukrainian brothers accused of racketeering by federal prosecutors of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Today, everyone knows about Russian spies with the recent capture of the eleven, but the case of the Botsvynyuk brothers is also worthy of mention. Ten years ago the brothers entered the United States legally on tourist visas, but remained in the country after their visas expired.
The brothers are accused of allegedly luring young Ukrainians with a promise of jobs in the United States that paid around $500 a month along with free room and board. According to the indictment, Ukrainians were smuggled onto American soil, in other words brought here illegally. The brothers, known as the Botsvynyuk Organization, took their victims on tourist visas to Mexico, where they were coached by operatives on how to cross the U.S. border illegally.
While some of them successfully made it into the country, others were caught by border patrol guards and held in an immigration lock-up for two months, then released with immigration documents and a summons to appear for immigration hearings, to which they never appeared. Instead, the Botsvynyuk Organization transported them to Philadelphia by bus or by air.
Most of the victims were young men who recently retired from the Ukrainian army. As Nathan Gorenstein of the Philadelphia Inquirer later described it: "It was a long journey from the steppes of the Ukraine, through the heat of the Mexican dessert, and then to the rough streets of Philadelphia. Upon arrival the migrants were put, as promised, to work in big chain stores, including Target, Kmart, Wal-Mart, and Safeway, and also at private homes. But, as it turns out, they didn't get paid as they were also promised. They instead were allegedly struck and beaten by the brothers. They also extorted money from victim's relatives and raped the women."
Eight of the 30 migrants brought to Philadelphia are cooperating with the government on the promise of being legalized in the U.S. under the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act [TVPA 2000]. It was designed to stop the flow of foreign women brought to the United States into forced labor in sweatshops and prostitution. According to FBI agent Ned Conway, eight rebellious men and women enslaves by the Botsvinyuk brothers "came to their senses after a very traumatic experience."
Four of the five Botsvinyuk brothers were seized on June 30th in the United States, Canada and Germany. The older brother, 51-year-old Omelyan, was arrested in Berlin on an Interpol warrant and extradited to the United States, while 35-year-old Stepan was arrested outside Riverview Plaza in South Philadelphia and held without bail pending a hearing next week. The three remaining brothers left the country before 2007. Mykhaylo Botsvynyuk and Yaroslav "Slavko" Churuk, 41, were arrested in Toronto by Canadian police. Dmytro Botsvynyuk is in the Ukraine, which at present does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.
If convicted of the charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO), the defendants face the following maximum penalties: Omelyan – life in prison and a $750,000 fine; Stepan Botsvynyuk – 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine; and defendants Mykhaylo, Dmytro and Yaroslav Botsvynyuk – 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The crimes are alleged to have occurred between 2000 and 2007.
Announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger, representing the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said that the Botsvinyuk brothers kept their workers in "involuntary servitude." According to Memeger, one woman was continually raped and another worker was threatened with his 9-year-old daughter in Ukraine being taken into prostitution. Memeger stated that the Botsvinyuks' case followed the pattern typical of trafficking crimes. The workers' travel documents, their Ukrainian passports, were taken away. They slept five and six to a room on dirty mattresses on the floor. The migrants worked 16-hour days cleaning retail and grocery stores for $100 a month. When needed, they were shuttled between jobs in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
The oldest brother, the ring leader and an alleged rapist, Omelyan "Milo" Botsvynyuk resided at Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond (PA), a neighborhood that is a traditional enclave for Eastern European immigrants, especially Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and Lithuanian. The other brothers lived nearby. All five were unaware of the investigation that started in 2005 as a result of the information received from Ukraine. The investigation was ordered by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, Immigration and Customers Enforcement, and state and local police. Progress was a slow process due to language barriers, fear, and a general mistrust of American police after experiences with law enforcement in other nations.
Many of the alleged victims were fresh out of the Ukrainian military and looking to start life anew. But upon arrival, authorities said, they were told they owed at least $10,000 to the brothers, and had to work for essentially no pay until that debt was paid off. One man was told he owed $40,000 and would have to work for three years, authorities said.
Some migrants started secretly working second jobs to earn enough to eat, according to court documents. To keep the workers in line, the brothers allegedly used intimidation techniques such as "slapping, punching, and kicking," and also death threats, the documents said.
In 2007, the brothers traveled back to Ukraine under the guise of "conducting inspections" – in reality an attempt to collect money by threatening the migrants' families, officials said.
Large and small grocery stores and chain stores enlisted so called "contractors" to look for a cheap labor force. The Botsvynyuk brothers provided nighttime work crews to Target, which stated it was "appalled" by the charges and insisted: "We take significant steps to contract with vendors that will maintain the highest standards. Through these contracts and a written certification process, we require all vendors to comply with all applicable laws, including immigration and pay practice laws."
Spokesmen for Kmart and Wal-Mart said they were unfamiliar with the charges. Wal-Mart said it had policies to ensure subcontractors comply "with all laws." Meanwhile, in 2003, immigration agents raided 61 Wal-Mart stores and arrested 245 janitors, including 28 in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The nationwide campaign called "Operation Rollback" focused on suspicions that contractors had recruited and hired illegal immigrants as janitorial workers, allegedly with the knowledge of some Wal-Mart officials.
In 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle allegations that illegal immigrants worked as janitors in its stores.
"The victims in this case entered this country with dreams of opportunity like many millions of legal immigrants before them only to find themselves living a nightmare," said U.S. Attorney Memeger. "They trusted this band of brothers, they performed the work they were told only to be rewarded with false promises, threats of brutality, and deprivation of their basic human needs. No one trying to immigrate to this country should have to endure such mistreatment." Attorney Memeger said that he has no idea how much money the Botsvinyuk brothers earned selling these "slaves of the twenty-first century," but he insists on confiscating all of their assets.
"It's a sad fact that here, in this great free country, people can be bought, sold and smuggled," said Douglas E. Lindquist, FBI assistant special agent in charge. Only one of the five brothers, Stepan, 35, is behind bars. He has already been awarded free legal representation.
