A 15-count indictment was unsealed on February 8, 2018, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging Stella Boyadjian, Hrachya Atoyan, and Diana Grigoryan, also known as “Dina Akopovna,” for their roles in a multi-year visa fraud scheme that brought Armenian citizens into the United States for profit. The defendants are charged with multiple counts of visa fraud and with conspiring to defraud the United States, commit visa fraud, and illegally bring undocumented persons into the United States. Boyadjian and Grigoryan are also charged with related money laundering, and Boyadjian is charged with aggravated identity theft.
As alleged in the indictment, the defendants choreographed their widespread visa fraud scheme by dressing visa applicants in traditional dance costumes and creating fake concert flyers to deceive a government program that allows foreign nationals to temporarily enter the United States as artistic performers in the P-3 visa category. That category allows entertainers to visit the U.S. to perform in culturally unique events and to deepen U.S. understanding of different cultures.
Boyadjian allegedly ran a nonprofit organization called Big Apple Music Awards Foundation Inc. (BAMA), based in Rego Park, New York, which she and her co-conspirators used to further their visa fraud scheme. As part of the alleged scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators solicited undocumented persons and charged them fees ranging from $3,000 to $15,000 per applicant to fraudulently obtain P-3 visas by submitting false Forms I-129 and supporting documents to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Upon approval of the I-129 petitions, the defendants and their co-conspirators acquired fraudulent dance certificates and organized staged photo sessions where foreign nationals wore Armenian dance costumes to make it appear as though they were traditional Armenian musicians, singers, and performers. After being trained how to falsely answer questions during visa interviews, the P-3 visa applicants presented these fake certificates and photos during their P-3 visa interviews. Once in the United States, some beneficiaries of the P-3 visas paid the defendants an additional fee to be included in applications for extensions of their fraudulently obtained visas. The defendants furthered their visa fraud scheme by creating flyers and other documents purporting to hold BAMA-sponsored concerts and events in the United States.
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