Florida – Two Ukrainian nationals, Oleg Oliynyk and Oleksandr Yurchyk, have been sentenced to 15 years in prison each following their extradition from Thailand to the United States in September 2024. The sentences were handed down in response to their involvement in labor-staffing companies operating in South Florida that engaged in tax and immigration fraud, as well as money laundering.
According to the Department of Justice’s press release from earlier this week, the duo, along with accomplices Oleksandr Morgunov, Mykhaylo Chugay, and Volodymyr Ogorodnychuk, managed multiple staffing entities including Paradise Choice LLC, Paradise Choice Cleaning LLC, Tropical City Services LLC, and Tropical City Group LLC. From at least April 2008 to August 2021, these companies were implicated in employing non-resident aliens not authorized to work in the U.S., specifically within the hospitality sector. Furthermore, they were found guilty of helping to dodge over $25 million in federal income and employment taxes.
U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez imposed the sentences, which also include three years of supervised release post-imprisonment, restitution payments of $10,863,233.05 each, and the forfeiture of $11 million. These measures reflect the severity of the offenses and the substantial financial damage inflicted upon the U.S. tax system.
This case forms part of the broader Operation RoomKey, a collaborative crackdown involving the Tax Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Homeland Security Investigations, and IRS Criminal Investigation. This operation has seen several other individuals connected to similar labor-staffing schemes being prosecuted and sentenced.
In a related 2022 trial, co-defendant Mykhaylo Chugay received a sentence exceeding 24 years. Morgunov and Ogorodnychuk, having pleaded guilty, were sentenced to 96 and 48 months in prison, respectively. Earlier in the operation, various other defendants linked to another staffing company, Phoenix ADB Services Inc., were also convicted and sentenced for their roles in similar tax and immigration conspiracies.
Among them, former City of Key West Police Officer Igor Kasyanenko and Roman Riabov faced 22 and 18 months in prison, respectively, while their associates, Mikus Berzins and Andrejs Kozlovs, were sentenced for knowingly employing over ten unauthorized aliens.
Further sentences were delivered throughout 2023 and 2024, implicating individuals such as Batyr Myatiev, who received a 32-month sentence for running labor staffing firms that incurred a tax loss of more than $3.5 million and employed unauthorized aliens. Similar cases were noted with Eka Samadashvili, Davit Pavliashvili, and Petr Sutka, each facing severe penalties for their involvement in staffing companies that flouted U.S. employment and tax laws.
These series of prosecutions underline the U.S. government’s resolve in addressing illegal employment practices and tax evasion, particularly in industries reliant on transient and often vulnerable labor forces. The sentences aim to serve as a deterrent to similar schemes that exploit both the labor market and the tax system.
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