12-01-04 -- Trakhtenberg, Lev -- Guilty Plea -- News Release

Russian Entertainment Promoter Admits Extorting Russian Women to Dance at New Jersey Strip Clubs

NEWARK - A promoter of Russian entertainment pleaded guilty today to conspiring to force Russian women to dance in New Jersey strip clubs and extorting exorbitant fees from them for their work, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Lev Trakhtenberg, 40, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John C. Lifland. He became the second defendant to admit his involvement in the conspiracy, in which Russian women were led to believe that serious harm would come to them or to their families in Russia if they did not continue to work for and pay the defendants, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie F. Schwartz.

Trakhtenberg admitted at his plea hearing that the women were forced to dance nude up to 10 hours a day, six days a week at strip clubs in Manville, South Amboy and Lakewood. He said the women were required to pay him and his wife, co-defendant Viktoriya I'lina $200 a day whether they earned that much or not.

"These women were in essence his property, unable to leave the United States, unable to earn more than what he extorted from them," Christie said. "Lingering over their heads was always the threat of harm to their families in Russia from mobsters. It had to be a very fearful existence."

Trakhtenberg pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor, visa fraud, and immigration violations. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Lifland scheduled sentencing for March 11, when he faces a probable sentence of five years in federal prison. I'lina remains charged in the same Indictment returned against the couple on Aug. 27, 2002.

Trakhtenberg admitted before Judge Lifland that he and others encouraged and induced more than 25 women - between about the summer of 1999 through August 2002 - to come from Russia to the United States in violation of the immigration laws. Trakhtenberg admitted that the majority of the women were brought into the U.S. on visa petitions which falsely purported that the women were part of internationally recognized Russian show groups.

Several other women were brought into the United States on exchange visas issued in connection with the University of Illinois, at Chicago. The exchange visas were obtained on the basis of false representations that the women were part of the Moscow Southwest Theater, a Russian acting troupe visited the University of Chicago as part of an exchange program.

Trakhtenberg admitted that the women were typically required to work at nude dancing clubs six days a week, eight to 10 hours a day, with only one additional day off a month. In addition, the Russian women were typically required to pay Trakhtenberg and others $1,200 a week, regardless of whether they had made sufficient money in a given week from nude dancing.

When these onerous conditions caused certain of the Russian women to stop working for Trakhtenberg, he demanded that the women continue to work or pay large sums of money. The women were led to believe that the money was owed to organized crime associates in Russia who would physically harm the women and their families in Russia if the demands were not met.

Trakhtenberg further admitted that he and others had taken the women's passports and return airline tickets upon their arrival to make it difficult for the women to leave their employ.

On Nov. 3, Trakhtenberg pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to conspiring to commit extortion against another Russian woman. That charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In that case, the Indictment charged that Trakhtenberg placed the Russian woman into prostitution and that when she attempted to quit, Trakhtenberg demanded that she pay him $5,000. When the woman failed to pay the demanded sum, Trakhtenberg arranged for a conspirator to contact the woman and threaten her family with physical harm. The plea was heard by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who scheduled sentencing for Feb.11.

In August, Sergey Malchikov, one of Trakhtenberg's co-defendants in the New Jersey case, pleaded guilty before Judge Lifland to an Information charging him with conspiracy to commit forced labor, visa fraud, immigration fraud, and extortion against the same Russian women that was the subject of the New York indictment. Malchikov's sentencing is currently scheduled for Jan. 28. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the sentencing judge will determine the actual sentence based upon a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, and the defendant's criminal history, if any. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy, Jr; Investigators with the State Division of Criminal Justice , under the direction of New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey; and Special Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Kyle Hutchins, for their work in developing the case. Christie also thanked the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, under the direction of U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley, for its assistance in bringing the defendants to justice.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie F. Schwartz, of the Criminal Division's Strike Force Unit, in Newark.

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Defense Attorney:

David Lewis, Esq., New York City, for Lev Trakhtenberg