Bonded Labor in St. Charles, Missouri (2009)

What happened

Andrew Cole, 55, admitted that he lied to workers he recruited in the Dominican Republic, telling them that their pay would be better than it turned out to be. He also acknowledged knowing that other members of the scheme would threaten those workers with deportation if they complained.Under federal statutes, Cole is subject to a sentence of up to 25 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office. Ilkham Fazilov, 45, a citizen of Uzbekistan residing Kansas City, Missouri pleaded guilty to the racketeering conspiracy on Aug. 16, 2010. Fazilov was the nominee organizer of Five Star Cleaning, LLC, and Suncoast Hospitality, Inc., which were fictitious shell companies used to obtain work authorization for foreign nationals and to conceal the unlawful proceeds of the criminal enterprise. Fazilov handled the payroll for the foreign workers and executed fraudulent ETA-750 petitions, which falsely claimed an exaggerated need for workers. These workers were placed for employment outside the parameters of the petition in violation of federal law. Fazilov also opened bank accounts for these shell companies and wire transferred unlawful proceeds to facilitate enterprise activities. Jakhongir Kakhkharov, 30, a citizen of Uzbekistan, pleaded guilty to the racketeering conspiracy on March 16, 2010. Kakhkharov acted as head of Midwest Management, Inc., a nominee entity established as part of the criminal enterprise in order to launder the illegal proceeds of the enterprise and to avoid paying taxes. Kakhkharov admitted that he was responsible for laundering a total of $634,192 in unlawful proceeds between July and December 2007. Kakhkharov also admitted that he used apartments in the Kansas City, Missouri area to house illegal aliens between July 2007 and January 2008. Alexandru Frumusache, 25, a citizen of the Republic of Moldova residing in Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty on Oct. 7, 2009, to forced labor trafficking. Between September 2008 and the end of April 2009, Frumusache aided and abetted others in a scheme to cause foreign workers (including citizens from the Phillippines, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica) to believe that they would be deported, or their H2B work visas would be cancelled, or they or their families members would be penalized with a $5,000 to $10,000 fee, if the foreign workers failed or refused to work where and when they were ordered to work.Frumusache also admitted that he aided and abetted others in subjecting the foreign workers to terrible living conditions without food, furniture, or appropriate sleeping arrangements. They assigned more foreign workers than each living space allowed and the foreign workers were subjected to sleeping on the floor or mattresses. They utilized the housing arrangement as an additional way to profit off of the foreign workers by overcharging them in rent and automatically withdrawing the fees from the foreign workers’ pay checks. Abdukakhar Azizkhodjaev, 50, a citizen of Uzbekistan residing in Panama City, Fla., pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony. Azizkhodjaev admitted that, while he was employed at Giant Labor Solutions between June 2006 and December 2007, his employer failed to withhold payroll taxes from Azizkhodjaev's salary, thus committing evasion of corporate employment tax. Azizkhodjaev concealed this offense by neglecting to file a tax return.