Former State Department Employees Indicted in Visa-Selling Scheme

The indictments out of Sacramento, Calif., alleged that the visas were sold from the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka, primarily to residents of Vietnam and India.

The 18-count indictment followed the arrests of eight of the nine defendants and searches at five locations in three states, the department said.

According to a 130-page complaint unsealed in Sacramento Wednesday, the scheme allegedly involved the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars by people in Sacramento and elsewhere to two married State Department employees between 2000 and 2003, in exchange for the issuance of visas to foreigners.

Scores of U.S. visas were sold, according to the Justice Department.

The indictment charges all nine defendants with conspiring to defraud the United States, to bribe public officials and to commit visa fraud.

The defendants are Long N. Lee, 51, a State Department Foreign Service officer and career State Department employee; Acey R. Johnson, 32, Lee's husband and until recently a consular associate employed in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka; Vinesh Prasad, 33, his brother Minesh Prasad, 28, and Narinderjit Singh Bhullar, 40, all of Sacramento; Bhullar's brother, Davinder Singh Bhullar, 44, of India; Phuong-Hien Lam Trinh, 35, of Torrance, Calif.; Rajwant S. Virk, 46, of Herndon, Va.; and Rachhpal Singh, 32, of Hayward, Calif.

Additional charges have been filed against some of the defendants, the department said.

Johnson was arrested Tuesday at his home in Port Orford, Ore., by special agents with the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Department and the FBI. He appeared in U.S. District Court Wednesday in Medford, Ore., and was ordered detained pending further proceedings Monday.

Lee was arrested at Dulles International Airport Wednesday evening after being escorted from the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to the United States by DSS agents, the Justice Department said.

Lee had been the chief administrative officer at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka.

Almost all of the other defendants were arrested at their homes in different cities Tuesday morning.

The exception was Davinder Singh Bhullar, who remains at large and is believed to be in India, the Justice Department said. He is a fugitive in an unrelated criminal case also pending in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

In addition to the conspiracy charged against all defendants, Johnson, Lee and Vinesh and Minesh Prasad are each charged with 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of bribery.

Vinesh and Minesh Prasad, Narinderjit Singh Bhullar and his brother Davinder Singh Bhullar are charged with one count of visa fraud, and Narinderjit and Davinder Singh Bhullar are each charged with one count of wire fraud.

Vinesh Prasad is also charged with one count of encouraging illegal entry of aliens for financial gain, and with two counts of money laundering. Narinderjit Singh Bhullar is also charged with one count of money laundering.

Each of the charges in the indictment is a felony, according to the department.

If convicted, the defendants could face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge, and for each wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering charge.

Conviction on visa fraud and encouraging entry by aliens charges each carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; the bribery charge has a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Each count in the indictment also carries a penalty of up to a three-year period of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

The indictment also seeks forfeiture of various properties, bank accounts, and over $175,000 in cash seized during searches on Tuesday.