Jail Time For Former Stamford Resident In Immigration Fraud Case

STAMFORD, CT — A 52-year-old former Stamford resident, who is also a citizen of the Republic of Georgia, was to six months of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for operating an immigration fraud scheme, announced United States Attorney John H. Durham.

David Nikolashvili, who most recently was residing in Queens, NY, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford, who also ordered Nikolashvili to pay a $12,000 fine.

According to court documents and prosecutors, Nikolashvili "operated an immigration fraud scheme through which he attempted to obtain false immigration status from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for at least 60 citizens of European countries."

As part of the scheme, after aliens paid Nikolashvili between $12,000 and $20,000, he would arrange sham marriages between the aliens and U.S. citizens in order to obtain immigration benefits for the aliens, according to Durham. The U.S. citizens were paid for participating in the fake marriages.

Nikolashvili was arrested in June, 2016, and a year later he pleaded guilty to one count of making a false swearing in an immigration matter. Additionally, all of the citizenship cases identified in this scheme have been reviewed by USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security and proper adjudicative action was taken.

He is currently free after posting a $75,000 bond and must report to prison on April 27, 2018. After his release, he also faces immigration proceedings.

This investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Office of Fraud Detection and National Security Unit, and U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas P. Morabito.

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