Impunity
Spreads Around UN As Morocco
Mission Involved In Visa Fraud
Case in SDNY
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive, Video
FEDERAL
COURTHOUSE, March 13 –
Impunity of diplomats and
royals in and around the UN
continues to grow worse under
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres. He has done nothing
about human trafficking
alleged against the Qatari
royal family, see below. Now
on March 13, this: "Geoffrey
S. Berman, the United States
Attorney for the Southern
District of New York, and
Christian J. Schurman,
Director of the U.S.
Department of State’s
Diplomatic Security Service
(“DSS”) at the United States
Department of State, announced
today the arrest of MARIA
LUISA ESTRELLA JAIDI
(“JAIDI”), who was charged by
complaint along with her
brother, RAMON SINGSON
ESTRELLA (“ESTRELLA”), for
their involvement in a
conspiracy to commit visa
fraud, make materially false
statements, and induce aliens
to illegally come to, enter,
and reside in the United
States. JAIDI was
arrested today in Ancramdale,
New York, and will be
presented this afternoon in
White Plains federal court
before the U.S. Magistrate
Judge Paul E. Davison.
ESTRELLA remains at
large.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S.
Berman stated: “As
alleged, the defendants abused
our nation’s process for
admitting consular officials
in order to bring domestic
workers into this country for
their own monetary gain and
lifestyle. On top of
that, Maria Luisa Estrella
Jaidi exploited these workers
by not providing them the
critical protections and
benefits they would have been
entitled to had they been
properly brought to this
country with the appropriate
visas. Today’s charges
demonstrate that fraud and
abuse of this type will not be
tolerated.”
DSS Director Christian J.
Schurman said: “DSS
demonstrated its commitment to
protecting the integrity of
U.S. travel documents and the
rights of foreign nationals
visiting the United
States. We will continue
to pursue those who abuse
domestic worker visas to
manipulate and exploit their
employees for personal
gain. DSS’s strong
relationship with our law
enforcement partners and the
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Southern District of New York,
continues to be essential in
the pursuit of
justice.”
According to the allegations
in the Complaint unsealed in
White Plains federal
court[1]:
From approximately 2006 up to
2016, JAIDI and ESTRELLA
conspired with an individual
not named as a defendant in
the Complaint (“CC-1”) to
fraudulently procure visas for
at least seven Filipino
domestic workers (the
“Domestic Workers”).
CC-1 is a diplomatic agent
accredited to the Permanent
Mission of the Kingdom of
Morocco to the United Nations
(the “Moroccan Mission”) with
the rank of Ambassador.
From approximately 1980
through approximately 2016,
CC-1 and JAIDI were
married.
In order to fraudulently
obtain visas for the Domestic
Workers, JAIDI and CC-1 caused
the Domestic Workers to submit
visa applications containing
materially false statements
and to submit fraudulent
employment contracts in
support of those visa
applications. ESTRELLA –
who is JAIDI’s brother and who
resides in the Philippines –
helped recruit several of the
Domestic Workers in the
Philippines to work for JAIDI
and CC-1 in the United States
and instructed the Domestic
Workers to make false
statements in their visa
applications and to officials
at the U.S. Embassy in
Manila.
In particular, ESTRELLA,
JAIDI, and CC-1 caused five of
the Domestic Workers to
falsely state in their visa
applications that they would
be employed as secretaries,
administrative assistants, or
technicians at the Moroccan
Mission or at the Consulate
General of the Kingdom of
Morocco in Manhattan. In
addition, ESTRELLA, JAIDI, and
CC-1 caused each of the
Domestic Workers to submit
fraudulent employment
contracts to the State
Department in support of their
visa applications. The
fraudulent employment
contracts also overstated the
Domestic Workers’ salaries,
understated their hours, and
falsely guaranteed benefits,
including, among others, sick
leave, dental insurance, and
medical
insurance.
Once the Domestic Workers
arrived in the United States,
JAIDI and CC-1 employed the
workers as their personal
drivers, domestic helpers,
farmhands, and assistants at
their residence in Bronxville,
New York, as well as at their
farm in Ancramdale, New
York. JAIDI and CC-1
paid the Domestic Workers
significantly less than the
minimum salary required by law
and regularly compelled them
to work far in excess of 40
hours per week. In
addition, JAIDI and CC-1
generally denied the Domestic
Workers the benefits set forth
in their employment contracts,
compelled the Domestic Workers
to work seven days a week, and
required the Domestic Workers
to surrender their
passports.
*
*
*
JAIDI, 60, of Bronxville, New
York, and ESTRELLA 55, of
Manila, Philippines, are each
charged with one count of
conspiracy to commit visa
fraud and make materially
false statements, which
carries a maximum sentence of
five years, and one count of
conspiracy to induce aliens to
illegally come to, enter, and
reside in the United States,
which carries a maximum
sentence of 10 years.
The maximum potential
sentences in this case are
prescribed by Congress and are
provided here for
informational purposes only,
as any sentencing of the
defendants will be determined
by the
judge.
Mr. Berman praised the
outstanding work of the DSS
Criminal Fraud Investigations
Branch, the DSS Saint Albans
Resident Office, the DSS New
York Field Office, Homeland
Security Investigations, the
U.S. Department of Labor’s
Wage and Hour Division from
the Albany District Office,
the Yonkers Police Department,
and the New York State
Police. In addition, Mr.
Berman thanked the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in the
Northern District of New York,
the Community Development
Project at the Urban Justice
Center, and the Human
Trafficking Program at the
Worker Justice Center of New
York for their assistance in
this
investigation.
This case is being handled by
the Office’s White Plains
Division. Assistant
United States Attorneys Sam
Adelsberg and Gillian Grossman
are in charge of the
prosecution." On March 5 as
Inner City Press which
Guterres has banned from the
UN amid its questions is
covering the Southern District
of New York, news reaches it
from its sources that a
diplomatic car, described as
from the mission of Morocco
which filed a false complaint
used by Guterres' censor in
chief Alison Smale to ban
Inner City Press, smashed into
a car near the corner of 46th
Street and Second Avenue
injuring a passenger - and
then sped away. We'll have
more on this. The Qatar ruling
family's abuse of employees
and laws was exposed
in an off the record initial
conference at
in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York on
February 14; Inner
City Press was the only media
present. Since its exclusive
report that day, Inner
City Press has been contacted
by more employees and
whistleblowers and a range of
apparent legal violations by
the Qatar royal family has
come to light.
Beyond the
failure to pay overtime which
was the subject of the
February 14 proceeding, Inner
City Press is now informed
that others of the Qatar
royals' workers are brought in
through JFK airport on private
jets, into limousine that
drive onto the tarmac. These
employees are then made to
work long hours with no
protections in the mansion at
9 East 72nd Street in
Manhattan.
But even
three days after Inner City
Press' detailed report, on
February 19 UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres who
lavish praise on the Qatar
royal family had said nothing
on this hypocrisy as he
speechified about human
trafficking generally: "I am
pleased to address this
important gathering on
migration, one of the most
important challenges of our
time. I welcome your adoption
of the Istanbul Commitments
and the Call for Action.
And I commend the significant
work the Budapest Process has
achieved over more than 25
years. Indeed, those
accomplishments contributed to
the successful adoption of the
Global Compact for Safe,
Orderly and Regular Migration
last December by the United
Nations General
Assembly. Now, our
attention must focus on
generating effective
cooperation that responds to
the Compact - addressing the
complex challenges of
migration while reaping its
many benefits, saving lives
and taking stronger action to
crack down on human
trafficking." We'll have more
on this - and this: on
February 18 Qatar's state
media with the slogan
"Journalism Is Not A Crime"
had not reported even the
court allegations against
Sheikh Jassim Al Thani.
Instead, Al Jazeera English's
James Bays in a nearly empty
UN noon briefing asked a
softball question about UN
negligence leading to deaths
of civilians in the Central
African Republic. UN deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq's wan
answers (Inner City Press
video here)
were later turned into
propaganda by AJE that the UN
is acting on the report has as
ignored since October. This is
how the UN censorship alliance
works, or doesn't - evasive
answers mis-presented as
expressions of commitment and
concern by a media so corrupt
it would ignore human
trafficking by its sponsors.
We'll have more on this.
Inner City Press
is informed, tellingly, that
one female worker from the
Philippines in forced to sleep
in front of Sheikh
Jassim bin Abdulaziz
Al-Thani's bedroom room so
that she can be ready to bring
him food or water or even give
massages at any hour. His wife
Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad
Al-Thani, the sister of
Qatar's ruler, buys art for
Qatar's museum and runs the
"Reaching Out To Asia" foundation.
Meanwhile her workers have
their hair pulled and a tooth
broken by her son. When
workers are fired they are
urged to fly to Doha where
they would face arrest.
The scams work
this way: the Qatari royals'
employees signed contracts in
Doha and then are told that
their visas to the US, unless
they are smuggled / trafficked
in through the JFK Airport
tarmac, are under the control
of the royals. While waiting
to be processed at JFK they
are presented with a new less
favorable contract and told if
they do not sign it, they will
not be admitted. If they work
for the family in Qatar, they
face imprisonment for any
disagreement.
In New York the
family's close protection
guards, some without visas,
brandish illegal large knives.
NYPD was called when the
royals sought to have one
fired employee, Chantelle
McGuffie, removed from her
apartment at 221 East 50th
Street near the UN. Still this
family, these systematic
crimes, have yet to be acted
on by authorities including
the U.S. Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
despite the facts dragged
through the SDNY court.
Inner City Press,
in reporting this despite
threats - at the UN, Qatar's
state media Al Jazeera has
worked with UNSG Antonio
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric to have Inner City
Press roughed
up and banned,
see Columbia Journalism Review
here
- aims to put an end to this
impunity. Watch this site.
Background: the
sister of the ruler of Qatar
is being sued by at least
three employees who say they
were made to work six days a
week without being paid
overtime, and were retaliated
against. Inner City Press was
the only media present at the
initial pre trial conference
on the case in the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
on February 14, and was
tempted to object when the
Qatari royal's lawyer from the
Proskauer law firm urged SDNY
Judge J. Paul Oetken for a
confidentiality order.
Royals of a
gas-rich emirate that has
locked up poets for
criticizing them, seeking to
cover up their retaliation and
refusal to pay overtime? It
remains to be seen how much
will be covered up in the
case. Inner City Press has
asked, twice, and will have an
update. The defendants are
Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad
Al-Thani and Sheikh Jassim bin
Abdulaziz Al- Thani.
From the answer
to the Complaint: "Defendants
admit that Mr. Bancroft began
his employment in Doha, Qatar
and that he accompanied
Defendants when they moved to
New York, but otherwise deny
the allegations in
Paragraph 39 of the
Complaint. 40.
Defendants deny the
allegations in Paragraph 40 of
the Complaint. 41.
Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft accompanied
Defendants on their European
travels in various countries
during the summer of 2016, but
upon information and
belief, otherwise deny
the allegations in Paragraph
41 of the
Complaint.
42. Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft accompanied
Defendants on their trip to
Qatar in the summer of 2017,
but otherwise deny the
allegations in Paragraph 42 of
the Complaint. 43.
Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft accompanied
Defendants on their European
travels in various countries
during the summer of 2018, but
upon information and
belief, otherwise deny
the allegations in Paragraph
43 of the
Complaint.
44. Defendants admit that Mr.
Bancroft traveled with the
family to Miami and Boston."
This is the
life of corrupt royals and
diplomats, such like those at
the UN up to and including its
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres who lives alone in a
$15 million mansion on
Manhattan's Sutton Place
(where he favors Qatar state
media Al
Jazeera, using it to
oust the independent Press
which questions him.) This is
the world of immunity and
impunity and now, it is urged,
confidentiality. Inner City
Press, now covering the SDNY
daily, will have more on this.
***
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