OC man sentenced in immigration fraud scheme

by: Brian Shane

An Ocean City man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for helping dozens of foreigners fraudulently apply for asylum benefits so they could remain in the United States after their work visas had expired.

Gasim Manafov, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit immigration fraud. He was sentenced Feb. 26 in federal court in Baltimore. Prosecutors said he lived in Ocean City and Charlotte, N.C.

According to his plea agreement, Manafov provided individuals with fake stories — describing how family members had been hurt or killed as a result of ethnic or political affiliation in their homelands — that would give U.S. immigration officials a reason to offer asylum to applicants, which could lead to citizenship. Manafov supported the false accounts with faked documents like foreign hospital records and death certificates.

Prosecutors said Manafov helped 70 people apply fraudulently for asylum between 2007 and 2012, and was paid an approximate total of $210,000 for his services. Court documents said individuals were from nations that included Belarus, Russia, Latvia and Moldova.

Federal law allows individuals to seek asylum protection within a year of entering the U.S. if they had suffered persecution in their home country based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or political opinion.

The law also allows applicants to legally work in the U.S. while their asylum applications are pending. Individuals who are granted asylum protection status after one year may apply for a “green card,” or permanent residence status. Green card holders are eligible to apply for naturalized citizenship.

An indictment against Manafov states he worked with an accomplice, 29-year-old Vitaliy Garriyevich Teymurov. Teymurov was a native of Azerbaijan and had become a naturalized U.S. citizen, the indictment states. Manfov also is from Azerbaijan.

The trio had worked to assist several individuals, who are identified in court documents only by their initials, all of whom were in the U.S. on expired J-1 visas. The J-1 visa is what foreign students use to get into the U.S. and work in Ocean City as a part of what the State Department calls the Summer Work Travel Program.

Source: delmarvanow