Jamaican Labor Broker Convicted

NORFOLK, VA—Clover May Robinson-Gordon, 44, of Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy and five counts of money laundering by a federal jury after the conclusion of an eight-day trial before United States District Judge Mark S. Davis. She is scheduled to be sentenced on February 1, 2010, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy count and 20 years in prison for each of the five money laundering counts. Her husband and co-defendant, O’Brian Barrington Gordon, was found not guilty of the same counts. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement today.

According to evidence and trial testimony, the Clover May Robinson-Gordon conspired with the Viktar Krus organization in Virginia Beach, Va. in H2B visa fraud and then internationally laundered the unlawful proceeds. Viktar Krus and 21 other foreign nationals and U.S. citizens were indicted on January 13, 2009 for massive immigration-related fraud. Krus, the organizer and leader was sentenced on July 17, 2009 to 87 months' imprisonment after being convicted on conspiracy, visa fraud and tax evasion charges.

Today’s announcement is the result of the investigative work of the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force. The task force was established by the U.S. Attorney’s Norfolk Division in 2007 and is comprised of agents with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division; the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service; the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General; the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Norfolk Field Office; and the Virginia Beach Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph DePadilla and Kevin Comstock prosecuted the case for the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.