MYLENE Basco Casupanan, from the Republic of the Philippines, was sentenced in the District Court for the NMI on Monday to 18 months imprisonment for conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.
Following her prison term, she will be placed on supervised release for two years. In addition, she will perform 40 hours of community service, and pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.
At the sentencing hearing on May 16, 2022 before Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona, Casupanan, 42, appeared out of custody with court-appointed counsel Robert T. Torres.
Judge Manglona gave the defendant credit for time served and ordered her to self-surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service and report to the Department of Corrections on the morning of May 17.
“Casupanan is the final defendant to be held accountable in this complex investigation and prosecution,” stated Shawn Anderson, the U.S. attorney for the Districts of Guam and the NMI. “Our office is actively targeting this activity in the CNMI. We will continue to bring those who abuse the CW-1 program to justice.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in January 2019, Casupanan, along with Alejandro Tumandao Nario, created A&A Enterprises, a manpower agency business incorporated on Saipan.
Nario, president of the company, and Casupanan, the accountant and business manager, operated this business which profited from the submission of more than 100 fraudulent CNMI-Only Transitional Worker or CW-1 visas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
As part of the scheme, Casupanan recruited foreign workers from the Philippines and in the CNMI, and then forged documentation for submission with their CW-1 applications, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added.
Rather than provide full-time employment to these foreign workers as required under the CW-1 program, Casupanan and Nario demanded that the foreign workers find their own employment on Saipan and then pay A&A Enterprises a biweekly tax of $194, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Nario was sentenced on Feb. 4, 2022, to serve 21 months of incarceration in a federal prison.
“A&A Enterprises went through great lengths to defraud the United States Government and potential beneficiaries of the CW-1 visa program,” said Homeland Security Investigations Honolulu Special Agent in Charge John F. Tobon. “Let this be a clear message that there will be serious consequences for those who exploit our immigration system by engaging in these elaborate fraud schemes.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert S. Flores Jr. prosecuted the case.
