INS Gives Open Affidavit to Marriage Scams

[JohnSmith]

I wrote this article to try and warn people, especially around NYC about Russian Women, but it seems like no one wants to listen. I took the immigration angle because that was the easiest fraud part to prove but there's so much more going on in this woman's story.

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When it comes to beating the system, our immigration laws have provided several tools at the disposal of green card seekers who are adept at manipulation and have no fear of repercussions. One such tool is the affidavit of abuse. On the surface it is a noble cause, protecting foreign brides who arrive to the U.S. only to find their husband is an abusive monster. In action, however, the concept falls apart and lends itself to misuse.

In 2002 a young Ukrainian woman, Elena Buchkovskaya (aka Olena Buchkovska, Alenu Buchkovsky) entered the United States after participating in a long distance engagement and marriage. The young man, Gino Litvak, was in love with Elena, had met her three years earlier and had worked hard to get her immigration papers in order so that she could join him in his life in Brooklyn. When she finally did arrive to the United States in June, she left Gino after 3 months.

She was able to keep Gino pacified, though living separately. In February 2005, Elena filed an affidavit stating that Gino was a drug addict and had abused her. Under U.S. Immigration law, such an affidavit is all that is needed for Elena to qualify for a special U.S. Visa that enabled her to continue to pursue her green card without living with or sponsorship from Gino. Despite repeated attempts over the years, Gino was unable to find where Elena was or her living conditions, even though she was still his wife. Her reasoning to U.S. Immigration was that she was fearful of Gino. In November 2006 Elena was granted a green card on this basis, in December of 2008 she completed divorce proceedings from Gino. Coincidentally two years is the stipulated minimum time from green card receipt to any acceptable change of marriage status for US Immigration.

In 2003, while still married, Elena started to work go-go bars in New Jersey, without immigration work authorization, to make money in cash and un-taxed and to actively seek out likely professional men. In August of 2006 Elena quit working in New Jersey and switched to the more lucrative grounds in Manhattan at the Flashdancers topless bar. By this time she had met and formed a group with two other women each with the same goal, Elena instructed these women on the immigration affidavit method. At Flashdancers they could interact with Wall Street executives, publishing executives and real estate moguls.

In October 2008 she met the perfect man, Michael Frank. Michael had everything she was looking for, a Manhattan apartment in the Upper East Side, a high powered advertising position as VP in David Geller and Associates, an expensive car and a house in the Hamptons. On the side he ran his own real estate development and construction company called FHM Development and Construction. Elena quit her job at Flashdancers and while with Michael, Elena used her other male acquaintances from Flashdancers to support herself. During this year 2008, Elena would gain up to $4,000 per month from her manipulations.

From Michael himself, Elena received $3,500 per month and participated in his real estate business. Michael paid Elena for minimal interior design work despite Elena having no experience or education and was paid through a company called Pioneer Development and Construction of which there is no record of business license with the county clerk of company’s stated address.

During 2008 Elena attracted an income of $6,000 to 7,000 per month. Until 2007 she had not declared or filed income taxes since entering the U.S. She would receive gifts from her manipulated victims such as $2,000 dresses, $4,000 handbags $6,000 jewelry and other luxury items and would take trips to Spain, Las Vegas and Miami.

No official action from US Immigration or IRS has been taken. Specifically U.S. Immigration has a policy that prevents action being taken to a woman that files an affidavit of abuse. The filer of such an affidavit does not need to show any proof of abuse, only write out a description of alleged actions and obtain signatures from usually family members or close friends as supporting collaboration. This is supposedly to prevent a vindictive spouse, yet, clearly leaves the door open to fraud that many have found very lucrative.

[Hero]

I wonder if you could do some kind of a background check on a Russian woman before you brought her over here, so you could see what kind of person she was beforehand. Or maybe it's enough to just get to know her for at least a year before you marry her. In any case, although I feel sorry for those guys in this story, it just goes to show that a fool and his money are soon parted.

[ladislav]

How desperate the men have to be in the US to fall in love with divorced go go dancers!
No decent man in her country would touch a woman like that with a twenty foot barge pole.

No one wants to listen because 1) not all of them do that 2) men in the US are in the state of acute sex/romance/love famine. They will take a hot blonde without thinking. 3) the US gov't is there to protect gays, women and other non mainstream people at all costs. 4) ethnic steteotyping is not healthy.

Another thing I would like to know is just how many percent of girls from Ukraine in the US do this kind of thing? My mother is from there and she would never do that . My cousins are the same- they never fool people like that. No members of Ukrainian Baptist community would be caught dead in a go go bar. Why can't guys check the girls' background and maybe pick one who is a good Christian or just a good person, period. I know it is hard to guarantee anything 100% but it is easy to predict probablilties/possibilities.

A Wall Street mogul in Ukraine would have ten cute virgin 18 year olds, not a saggy boob flasher. And the police there would just laugh at the affidavit of abuse. Where is the proof?

By the way, for the 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000th time, Ukranians are not Russian. It is another country in case you did not know. For one, Ukie girls need visas to work in Russia and need to have them renewed regularly. Your bestowing Russian nationality upon them does not make them so. Maybe you should title your article CIS Countries Women, etc. Would sound a bit better, don't you think?

[Winston]

JohnSmith,
I got a demanding letter today from the Elena you wrote about here. What should I do? Here is what I got.

Dear Mr. Winston Wu,

today I googled my name and saw this unpleasant link to my name. Accusing me of fraud, of things that I didn't do and trying to ruin my reputation and reputation of the people that are dear to me.


http://www.happierabroad.com/phpBB2/vie ... 13ee7ccd70

I am legal in United Sates, I pay taxes every year, and I love this country---THIS IS MY HOME!

The fact is that this "John Smith" is not his real name, he's a poet-writer. He's obsessed about me and a dangerous stalker!! I was afraid and could not get rid of. I'm still afraid. This man tried to hurt me in other different ways. I don't even know where to start. First, he broke into my emails without my permitting, used information in my email to harass me and my family. Tried to make people turn their back on me. The guy is delusional and sick person. I changed my phone numbers and emails. He found me anyways--threatening me, accusing in his sickness and obsession. Second, he stole my photo from mentioned email break and posted it on "escort" web site. I went to police---that post was removed. He called from his cellphone to the place I used to work at (which is not the one he mentioned!!) and introduced himself as an Internal Revenue Service officer (illegal on his part, so now he tries to get me however he can) asking how much I made that year!!! I went to police again. They said that I should collect info on him. I don't even want to think what else he can do. I simply want to be left alone.
Please remove this post from http://www.happierabroad.com

Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Elena

How can I know who to believe? Is there any way I can contact the guy she scammed to verify your story?

[Winston]

Here is what I wrote back to Elena:

Dear Elena,
I will try my best to find out the truth of this story and ask for verification from "JohnSmith".

However, at this point, all I have is your word vs. his, and I want to be fair and objective to both sides. Free speech is protected in America but slander/libel are illegal. If you want to charge that the claims about you on my forum are false and thus constitute libel, you need to prove it to a reasonable degree. I can't just take your word for it. Do you understand?

Without proof either way, I can't ethically do anything, except to invite you to post your side of the story in my forum in the thread about you, to allow others to decide for themselves what they want to conclude.

Are you able to prove that his claims about you are false?

Winston

[tjh14]

Never thought I'd agree with Ladislav about Russian/Ukrainian women, but dating a stripper is bad news and should have been a dead give away.
That said, I met a higher percentage of users and golddiggers in the FSU than anywhere else. Still met some great women, who were not like that. Where there is smoke, there is fire. People aren't just making up these stories to bash the Slavs. You had better know the woman really well before you get married. Could happen anywhere, but extreme caution is called for in Russia/Ukraine.

[Winston]

Here is the next reply from Elena. What do you think I should do about this?

Elena:

Dear Mr. Winston Wu,

what kind of proof do you want?
the proof that the guy is a creep and obsessed?
I do not know you to give you my personal information.
How can you let someone post something like that on your website without a proof of the information they provide?
If I'll go to the police and make a report over it, police will just arrest him.
But thank you for the info- "Free speech is protected in America but slander/libel are illegal."
I will not chat about that on your website.

Please reconsider.
Thank you
Elena

My next reply to her:

Hi Elena,
You have to look at the big picture. I don't know you and I don't know him either. A forum is a public board where people can post anything, almost. If someone posts something about you, you have a right to respond and give your side of the story too.

As to what kind of proof, that's up to you. When I make a claim about a story or experience of mine, I'm always able to provide evidence to support my claims. My website contains plenty of evidence for all my claims for example.

Can you show me some of his emails that demonstrate his character that you claim?

If you can't provide evidence, then do you have a website or online reputation that establishes your credibility, such as character references from people that know you well? I have such references and I give them out to prove my integrity and good character to others when it's needed.

It's not true that you can go to the police without proof and that they will arrest him. The law doesn't work that way. You have to have some evidence or probable cause. The police are also trained in lie detection and can usually "smell" who is telling the truth and what has really happened. They are not machines but have highly accurate instincts.

There are many sites in which people say bad things about something. For example, at Ripoffreport.com, they allow people to post bad things about companies. The website does not judge who is right or wrong. But it allows the companies to respond and give their side of the story. That's all it can do.

If JohnSmith is really lying, you should be able to provide some evidence of it, don't you think? For example, what is his real name, how I can check that he is a bad person, etc.

He has probably posted the info about you on other sites as well. You can't stop him. He can easily make free blogs on blogger.com or wordpress.com and post the same info about you. There is no way you can prevent that. All you can do is give your side of the story. My name has been slandered on the internet too, and all I could do is counter it with my side of it as well.

Thanks,
HappierAbroad Admin

I don't understand why she will not come here and just give her side of the story herself?

[JohnSmith]

Winston,

Thank you for holding your ground.

In response, I'm a journalism student. A few months ago I met a person that told me this story. I thought it was interesting and wanted to write an article. I am still trying to find a newspaper or magazine to publish it. My source showed me information he was compiling to bring the matter to civil court on grounds of fraud - monetary gain by deception. I have objectively checked and verified each point with several different sources and interviews.

I can provide my copies to you if you wish. It's not libel if proof can be shown.

Unfortunately the main person of the article has been unavailable to contact for comment until now.

It is interesting though, that in this response, she has chosen to counter claim stalking, I called my source, he claims he hasn't spoken or had any contact since 2008; he hasn't even been in the same State where the events originally took place.

It appears the allegation is baseless but I welcome her to tell her side of the story and I will re-write the article to include this information so long as each point can be verified - same basis as was applied to my source.

Side point, it is easy to tell of whom she's referring to by stating his profession so I called him first but in fact based on follow up interviews, the allegations described (if shown to have occurred) could have been perpetrated by any number of individuals who have dealt with her. There is not a lot of support to be found in that past.

[ladislav]

The sensationalist title you are using can now cause grief to all Russian women in the US of all backgrounds. Doctors, engineers, artists. Bad words can smear entire ethnic groups. And they will be discriminated against . You would not for example, if it was a Black stripper, title your article "Black women take white men to the cleaners". It would be racist as hell. You are now slandering all Russian women because of a stripper who is not even from Russia. Think about it. Your title is pure racism.

Are you familiar with the term 'responsible journalism'?

[Winston]

JohnSmith,
Is this the same Elena Buchkovskaya?

http://www.dontdatethis.com/ddtgirl/pag ... ter&id=713



Who posted that and where did he get the photo of her from?

Anyhow, yeah if you can, I'd like to see the sources you checked. Can you specify what type of sources these are? Are they independent corroborations of this account? How can you show them to us, by posting them here, or scanning the documents, or providing third party contact info that will validate this story?

[Winston]

The sensationalist title you are using can now cause grief to all Russian women in the US of all backgrounds. Doctors, engineers, artists. Bad words can smear entire ethnic groups. And they will be discriminated against . You would not for example, if it was a Black stripper, title your article "Black women take white men to the cleaners". It would be racist as hell. You are now slandering all Russian women because of a stripper who is not even from Russia. Think about it. Your title is pure racism.

Are you familiar with the term 'responsible journalism'?

Well I guess you have a point. If he wanted to expose a specific individual for her crimes, it's probably better to just use her name in the thread title. That would do the job. Or you could just say "Russian woman" instead of "Russian women" which would be more accurate anyway.

JohnSmith, if you wish, you may edit your first post and change the title name, by clicking the "Edit" button in the post.

PS - Ladislav, there are already so many horror stories about Russian women on the internet, that I don't think this post will make any difference. One more grain of sand on the beach isn't going to matter is it?

[Winston]

Here's a new response I got from Elena today:

yes. and that picture he stole from my email.

I worked for him as a freelance designer. He wanted to date-- I said "we can be friends"-- everyone knows what it means, right? so I thought he got it and kept working, thinking I'm good at design. I didn't tell him that I had a boyfriend, simply because its not of his business!
then he broke into my email (I still don't know how) read my emails and made up emails that I didn't write(it is possible to fix dates and names and all message in reply), tried to make my ex to believe that I cheated on him, etc.
He cannot know all these illegal things that he made up in his sick mind, simply because non of these Government organization would give him such information.


Please, remove this post
Thank you for consideration
Elena

[momopi]

I don't see any point in getting involved in someone else's dispute.

[JohnSmith]

Winston,

I have seen that post too, but I dismissed it, I mean, anything posted on Don't Date This Girl is not really a credible source for anything, plus there was no useful information there. But I will ask and get back to you.

Vinstonas, ok you have a point, I'll change the title. Let me think of something better, more suitable.

No problem with getting the back up scanned and uploaded, give a little time, I'm away from my scanner this week.

[ladislav]

Ladislav, there are already so many horror stories about Russian women on the internet, that I don't think this post will make any difference. One more grain of sand on the beach isn't going to matter is it?

It is like saying there is so much racism against blacks and so many reports on how they kill and steal and are lazy,so my racist generalization is not going to change much.
The woman is not even from Russia!