The US Department of Justice said that a 37-month prison sentence has been issued against an Iraqi citizen convicted of fraud on the refugee program in the United States.
The US Department of Justice stated in Statement Aws Muwaffaq Abdul-Jabbar, 44, pleaded guilty last January to his role in a scheme to defraud the US refugee program.
The statement added that Abdul-Jabbar is one of three defendants in the plot, namely Jordanian Haitham Issa Saad (44 years old) and Russian Olesya Leonidovna Krasilova (44 years old).
The fraud scheme relates to the US Refugee Admissions Program, and in particular the “Iraq P-2” program, which allows some Iraqis to apply directly for resettlement in the United States.
According to the indictment, Saad, who worked for US Citizenship and Immigration Services in Jordan between 2007 and 2016, and Krasilova, who held a similar position at the US Embassy in Moscow, were able to access and send information from refugee program applicants to Abdul-Jabbar between 2016 and 2019. .
The statements contained questions that interviewees might ask asylum applicants as well as assessments of their cases and other information.
Investigators say the scam was run by Aws Muwaffaq Abdul-Jabbar, an Iraqi citizen living in Jordan whose application for refugee status in the United States was earlier denied, according to the Washington Times.
The indictment indicated that Saad and Krasilova had access to hundreds of files and handed them over to Abdul-Jabbar, who paid them more than $1,000 each time.
The investigators asserted that the leaked information may have been used to help Iraqis draft their asylum applications and try to obtain approvals when they are refused.
Prosecutors said the three defendants may have caused some eligible refugees to be taken off the waiting list in the immigration program.
Created in 2008, this program allowed Iraqis who worked with the US government, military and media organizations during and after the Iraq War to apply for asylum directly to the United States rather than having to go through UN programs.
Last March, the US State Department announced the resumption of work on the program, more than a year after it was temporarily suspended due to the fraud.