WASHINGTON—An Uzbek national was sentenced today for his role as the leader of a illicit enterprise that engaged in numerous criminal activities including forced labor, fraud in foreign labor contracting, visa fraud, mail fraud, identity theft, tax evasion, and money laundering, the Department of Justice announced. Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev was sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $172,000 in restitution to the foreign worker fraud and forced labor victims, in addition to restitution for harm caused by other aspects of the criminal enterprise. Askarkhodjaev pleaded guilty in October 2010, to racketeering conspiracy, fraud in foreign labor contracting, evasion of corporate employment tax, and identity theft.
As leader of this multi-national criminal enterprise, whose members included nationals of Uzbekistan, Moldova, and the United States, Askarkhodjaev arranged for the recruitment and exploitation of dozens of workers from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and elsewhere, many of whom were recruited with false promises concerning the terms, conditions, and nature of their employment. Once in the United States, the workers were held in overcrowded apartments and compelled into service and hospitality jobs in as many as 14 states. Members of the criminal enterprise withheld much of the victims’ earnings and threatened them with deportation and financial penalties if they refused to comply with the defendants’ demands.
“The defendant directed a criminal organization that, out of pure greed, exploited the hopes and dreams of scores of foreign workers, degrading them through threats and deceit,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez. “The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute these cases and dismantle criminal networks that prey on vulnerable victims.”
“This case was the first in the country in which forced labor trafficking was charged as part of a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, conspiracy,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Beth Phillips. “Hundreds of illegal aliens working in 14 states were victims of modern-day slavery, including employees at hotels in the Kansas City, Mo., area and in Branson, Mo.”
Co-defendants Kristin Dougherty, Ilkham Fazilov, Viorel Simon, Nodirbek Abdollayev, Jakhongir Kakhkarov, Alexandru Frumusache, and Abdukakhar Azizkhodjaev were previously sentenced for their respective roles in this criminal enterprise. Dougherty was convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, and wire fraud and was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Fazilov was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to 41 months in prison. Simon was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and fraud in foreign labor contracting and was sentenced to 25 months in prison. Abdoollayev was convicted of racketeering and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Kakhkharov and Azizkhodjaev were convicted of racketeering conspiracy and misprision of a felony respectively, and both were sentenced to time served. Andrew Cole, who was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and fraud in foreign labor contracting, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10, 2011.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William L. Meiners, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford, and Deputy Chief Jim Felte of the Civil Rights Division. It was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor- Office of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service- Criminal Investigations, the Kansas Department of Revenue- Criminal Investigations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Independence, Mo., Police Department in conjunction with the Human Trafficking Rescue Project.

LOS ANGELES—A Southern California man was sentenced this morning to 25 years in federal prison after being convicted on a series of federal charges related to schemes to smuggle many items into the United States, including surface-to-air missiles designed to shoot down aircraft.
Yi Qing Chen, 49, of Rosemead, California, received the 300-month sentence from United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer.
Last October, following a two-week trial, a federal jury convicted Chen of five felony counts—conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine, distribution of cocaine, trafficking in counterfeit cigarettes (approximately 800,000 cases of cigarettes), trafficking in contraband cigarettes, and conspiracy to import missile systems designed to destroy aircraft.
During this morning’s hearing, Judge Fischer said Chen “never saw a criminal scheme he didn’t want a part of.”
The evidence presented during the trial showed that Chen conspired to smuggle, among other things, Chinese-made QW-2 shoulder-fired missiles into the United States. The guilty verdict in the missile plot was the nation’s first conviction at trial under an anti-terrorism statute that outlaws the importation of missile systems designed to destroy aircraft. Enacted in December 2004, the statute carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 25 years in federal prison.
“Mr. Chen was the first person in the nation to be indicted for plotting to smuggle anti-aircraft missiles into the United States after the 9/11 attacks,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “The 25-year sentence imposed today appropriately reflects the severity of the threat this conspiracy posed to the security of the United States.”
The case against Chen is the result of Operation Smoking Dragon, an FBI-led undercover investigation into smuggling operations in Southern California. Smoking Dragon and a related investigation in New Jersey led to the indictment of 87 individuals on charges related to international conspiracies to smuggle counterfeit United States currency, drugs and other contraband into the United States. Operation Smoking Dragon resulted in four indictments and nearly three dozen convictions in Los Angeles. Chen is the final defendant to be sentenced in relation to Operation Smoking Dragon.
“Today’s sentencing of Mr. Chen is the result of eight years of investigative work by agents and prosecutors assigned to the Smoking Dragon case,” said Steven Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles. “The defendant’s willingness to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into this country or anywhere is a frightening concept because there can be no confusion as to the purpose of such contraband—nor to the potentially horrific consequences for innocent people.”
In 2006, a man who conspired with Chen pleaded guilty in relation to various smuggling plots, including the scheme to bring the surface-to-air missiles into the United States (see:http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/pressroom/pr2006/044.html). That co-defendant, Chao Tung Wu, died while pending sentencing and before Chen was brought to trial.
The evidence in the case showed that Chen and Wu met with an undercover FBI agent and agreed to arrange the importation of shoulder-fired QW-2 missiles, as well as launch and operation hardware for the missiles, from the People’s Republic of China. The missiles were never delivered because Wu and Chen were arrested in 2005 before the deal was concluded.
“Recordings played during trial, of defendant [Chen] and Wu, included discussions that they had engaged in a wide range of criminal activity, including narcotics and counterfeit cigarette trafficking and shipping vehicles to China in containers where documents fraudulently identified their contents,” prosecutors wrote in papers filed in court prior to today’s sentencing. “It was undisputed that Wu never conducted any legitimate business during the relevant period of time.”
In addition to the 25-year prison term, Judge Fischer ordered Chen to pay $520,000 to Philip Morris for the counterfeit cigarettes he smuggled into the United States.
Operation Smoking Dragon was an investigation run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which received substantial assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The United States Secret Service assisted in the investigation in relation to the smuggling of counterfeit $100 bills called “Supernotes” that are believed to have been manufactured in North Korea.

EAST ST. LOUIS, IL—Michael C. Finton, aka “Talib Islam,” pleaded guilty today to attempting to bomb the federal courthouse in Springfield in September 2009 and was immediately sentenced to serve 28 years in prison, announced Todd Hinnen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security; U.S. Attorney James A. Lewis of the Central District of Illinois; and Armando Fernandez, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Springfield Division.
At a hearing today in East St. Louis, Ill., Finton, 31, a U.S. citizen and resident of Decatur, Ill., appeared before U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon and entered a plea of guilty to one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction (an explosive bomb) against property owned by the United States. Judge Herndon sentenced Finton to 336 months in prison in accordance with the terms of his plea agreement with the government.
“Michael Finton is one of a number of young Americans over the past two years who, under the influence of a radical and violent ideology, have sought to carry out acts of terrorism in the United States,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Hinnen. “Although a coordinated undercover law enforcement investigation thwarted Mr. Finton’s plot to destroy the federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois, this case underscores the need to remain vigilant against the threat posed by homegrown extremism.”
“Michael Finton tried to bomb our federal courthouse with the intent to kill innocent civilians, committed public servants, and dedicated first responders,” said U.S. Attorney Lewis. “This terrible attempt was prevented through the excellent investigative work of the Springfield FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and assisting law enforcement agencies.”
“The investigation of Michael Finton is a significant accomplishment in the FBI’s mission to protect the United States from terrorist attack. The dedication and professionalism of the Springfield Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this case have made America safer,” said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Fernandez.
According to the plea agreement and other documents filed in court, Finton admitted that on Sept. 23, 2009, he traveled from Decatur to Springfield, where he knowingly took possession of a truck that he believed contained a bomb with approximately one ton of explosives. The explosive device was actually inert. Finton drove the truck to the Paul Findley Federal Building and Courthouse, at 600 East Monroe Street, where he parked immediately outside the federal building and across the street from an office used by a U.S. Congressman.
At the time he parked the truck, Finton activated a timer connected to the explosive device, which he believed was large enough to destroy the federal building and the Congressman’s office. After Finton parked the van and armed the device, he locked the truck and got into a vehicle with an undercover law enforcement agent whom he believed was associated with the al Qaeda terrorist organization. Finton then used a cell phone to attempt to remotely detonate the purported bomb after he and the undercover agent had driven a safe distance away.
Prior to Sept. 23, 2009, according to filed court documents, Finton met on several occasions with an undercover law enforcement officer whom Finton believed was acting on behalf of al Qaeda. During a meeting on July 29, 2009, Finton proposed the federal building in Springfield as a target and proposed that two vehicle-borne bombs be used—the first to do the initial damage, and the second to attack the responders. Finton also suggested that if the bomb was big enough, it might also “take out” the office of the Congressman across the street from the federal building.
Finton has remained detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest on Sept. 23, 2009.
The case was investigated by the Springfield FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and assisting law enforcement agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric I. Long, of the Central District of Illinois, and Trial Attorney Alamdar Hamdani, of the Counterterrorism Section at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, prosecuted the case.

SAN JUAN, PR—This morning at approximately 10:30, FBI agents and Police of Puerto Rico officers arrested, without incident, Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio, age 65, in Cayey, Puerto Rico.
On August 23, 1985, a federal arrest warrant was issued in Hartford, Connecticut charging Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio with obstruction of commerce by robbery and conspiracy. It is alleged Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio participated in the armed robbery of approximately $7 million from the Wells Fargo Depot in Hartford, Connecticut on September 12, 1983. If convicted on these charges, Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio faces up to approximately 275 years of imprisonment.
On March 21, 1986, another federal arrest warrant was issued in New Haven, Connecticut charging Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio with bank robbery, aggravated robbery, theft from interstate shipment, foreign and interstate transportation of stolen money, and conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery.
Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio had been a fugitive from justice for the past 25 years. It is believed Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio is a member of the clandestine domestic terrorist organization known as Ejercito Popular Boricua-Los Macheteros, a group which has claimed responsibility for several murders, armed robberies, and terrorist bombings.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of any guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial. The U.S. government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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