Three Indicted on Charges They Attempted to Bribe INS Agent : Immigration: Federal grand jury says they wanted people who filed workers’ comp claims arrested and sought illegal visas.
LOS ANGELES — Three Orange County residents were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges of conspiring to bribe an immigration agent to gain favors on a variety of immigration matters involving associates and employees of a Carson-area shipping warehouse.
The 13-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court here, alleges that the agent was, among other things, asked to arrest immigrants who filed workers’ compensation claims against the warehouse and to give visas to two Vietnamese nationals.
Named as defendants were Steve Moallem, 47, and his wife, Gayle Mullen, 34, who own Nationwide Distribution Services, a warehouse in Rancho Dominguez where the U.S. Customs Service conducts examinations of cargo containers imported into the United States. Federal officials said that Mullen also owns XYZ Co., a garment business based at the warehouse.
An attorney for Moallem vigorously denied the charges Wednesday, and accused federal agents of entrapping his client.
Also named as defendants were Laguna Beach resident Naftali Grossman, 32, identified by federal prosecutors as Moallem’s cousin and a British citizen, and Armando Lising, 41, who lives in Paramount but is a citizen of the Philippines. Federal officials said Lising was the warehouse office manager.
Mullen, Grossman and Lising could not be reached for comment.
According to the indictment, Moallem and the other suspects offered or paid Immigration and Naturalization Service Special Agent Jess Avestro about $10,000 in bribes. Avestro, who reported the bribe offers to the FBI, was allegedly asked to overlook the employment of undocumented immigrant workers by Moallem’s company.
The indictment also alleged that Avestro was asked to arrest undocumented workers who filed workers’ compensation claims against the company. In addition, the INS agent was allegedly asked to illegally obtain a resident alien card and work permit for Lising and fraudulent travel documents for Vietnamese nationals who are business associates of Moallem.
Beverly Hills attorney Paul Caruso, who represents Moallem, said his client already faces another indictment unsealed in Los Angeles last week. In that case, Moallem is charged with five additional counts of bribing Avestro.
Caruso said Moallem is currently free on bond in last week’s indictment and denied that his client bribed Avestro.
“We deny the charges,†Caruso said. “We intend to show that Avestro was dirty from the word go. He solicited the bribes. I think we have a very sound entrapment defense for all the charges.â€
The charges against Moallem and Mullen also allege that they asked the INS agent to assist Moallem in obtaining a phony passport showing his place of birth to be New York City, rather than Iraq. According to the indictment, Moallem later paid Avestro $500 to obtain an altered passport. He is charged with making a false statement in a passport application.
The four suspects are facing 12 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each bribery count and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each conspiracy count. Moallem also faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the false passport application charge.
The four will be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles on July 25.
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