New Jersey- The wife of a Russian entertainment promoter pleaded guilty to conspiring with him and another co-defendant to extort money from two Russian women, who were among at least 25 others brought illegally into the United States to dance in New Jersey strip clubs, according to U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie.
Viktoriya I'lina, 41, of Brooklyn NY, became the third defendant to admit involvement in the conspiracy, in which Russian women were led to believe that serious harm would come to them or their families in Russia if they did not pay the defendants the sums of money demanded, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie F. Schwartz.
I'lina pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion against two Russian women. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. I'lina also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and immigration violations. That charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge John C. Lifland scheduled sentencing for April 13, 2006.
I'lina admitted before Judge Lifland that she, Trakhtenberg and the third defendant, Sergey Malchikov, encouraged and induced more than 25 women - between the fall of 1999 through August 2002 - to come from Russia to the United States in violation of the immigration laws. I'lina admitted that the majority of the women were brought into the U.S. on visa petitions which falsely purported that the women were part of internationally recognized or culturally unique Russian show groups.
Under the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, I'Lina faces a probable sentencing range of between 41 and 51 months in federal prison. Judge Lifland, however, is not bound by the guidelines in determining the sentence.
"As we did with her husband, we'll be seeking a sentence at the top of that range," said Christie. "For the treatment they imposed on these women, both of them deserve nothing less."
Judge Lifland sentenced I'lina's husband, Lev Trakhtenberg, in June to a maximum allowable 60 months in prison.
Several other women were brought into the United States on exchange visas issued in connection with the University of Illinois, at Chicago. The exchange visas were obtained on the basis of false representations that the women were part of the Moscow Southwest Theater, a Russian acting troupe visited the University of Chicago as part of an exchange program.
I'lina further admitted that she conspired with Trakhtenberg and Malchikov to demand large sums of money from the two Russian women - $5,200 in the case of one of them and $2,600 in the case of the other - when the women indicated their intention to stop working in nude dancing club for members of the conspiracy. I'lina said that she conspired with Trakhtenberg and Malchikov to lead the two Russian women to believe that they and their families in Russia might be physically harmed if the demands were not met.
I'lina further admitted that she and the co-conspirators convinced the women that their passports - which had been turned over to the conspirators when the women arrived in the United States - would not be returned until they paid the sums demanded.
As part of her plea agreement, I'lina agreed to forfeit $25,575 that was seized from her Brooklyn residence at the time of a court-authorized search in August 2002.
On June 3, 2005, Trakhtenberg, 41, was sentenced to 60 months in prison - the maximum allowed under the law - for conspiring to force Russian women to dance in New Jersey strip clubs and extorting exorbitant fees from them for their work. Trakhtenberg, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge John C. Lifland to pay $66,380 in restitution to victims of the forced labor conspiracy.
Judge Lifland ordered the sentence for Trakhtenberg to run concurrently to a 42-month sentence he received from a federal judge in Manhattan on March 10, 2005. That sentence was for Trakhtenberg's separate guilty plea in November to conspiring to commit extortion against another Russian woman in New York. In the New York case, the Indictment charged that Trakhtenberg placed the Russian woman into prostitution and that when she attempted to quit, Trakhtenberg demanded that she pay him $5,000. When the woman failed to pay the demanded sum, Trakhtenberg arranged for a conspirator to contact the woman and threaten her family with physical harm.
On July 21, 2005, Sergey Malchikov, 45, was sentenced to 45 months in prison by Judge Lifland for his guilty plea to conspiracy to commit forced labor, visa fraud, immigration fraud, and extortion against the same Russian woman that was the subject of the New York indictment.
