A Kentucky woman was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland to three years probation and ordered to pay more than $170,000 in restitution for tax evasion and conspiracy to commit visa fraud.
Colleen Holt-Thompson, 58, founded the Kentucky-based nonprofit Host Ukraine in 2015, the district court said in a statement Wednesday. The organization brought children living in Ukrainian orphanages to the United States to live with temporary host families over the summer and winter holidays.
But the children’s visas were granted based on fraudulent applications, the court said. In order to apply for the visas and transport the children, Holt-Thompson had to first request permission from the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy, which required host families’ names and addresses.
“To obtain the visas, Holt-Thompson would provide placeholder names – names and addresses of American families who had not actually agreed to serve as hosts – when she submitted names of Ukrainian children to the Ministry,” the court said. “Before the children traveled to the U.S., she would find actual host families for each child.”
Holt-Thompson worked with an unnamed co-conspirator in Maine to identify placeholder families, the court said. That co-conspirator also served as Host Ukraine’s Northeastern contact.
A representative of the court did not respond to messages Wednesday night about the co-conspirator’s identity and whether they face charges.
Court records show that David Beneman, a federal public defender, represented Holt-Thompson in the trial. In an email Wednesday night, Beneman said that he couldn’t comment on the case.
In addition to drafting fraudulent visa applications, Holt-Thompson was charged with diverting more than $127,000 from the organization to pay personal expenses and credit card bills in 2016. She claimed only $47,226 in income that year and failed to file a tax return for Host Ukraine. She pleaded guilty in January.
The organization collected donations, and host families were charged $3,000 to participate in the program.
Holt-Thompson obtained hosting permission for 828 children between 2015 and 2019, the court said. It’s not clear whether any of those visas were legitimate.
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