A suburban Dallas woman admitted in federal court in Ohio that she took part in a scheme through a defunct suburban Cleveland-based adoption agency to arrange illegal adoptions of children from Uganda by bribing Ugandan High court judges.
Robin Longoria, 58, of Mansfield, Texas pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, wire fraud and visa fraud.
According to court documents released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio, Longoria worked as an employee of an unnamed international adoption agency in Strongsville, Ohio.
The “adoption agency” facilitated intercountry adoptions from Uganda and elsewhere for prospective adoptive parents in the United States.
Court heard that from 2013 to 2016, Longoria worked with an unnamed Ugandan attorney to pay bribes to Ugandan government officials in order to get the officials to use their positions to assist in facilitating adoptions of Ugandan children for American clients.
Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development is Uganda’s central adoption authority and oversees the probation and social welfare officers assigned to magistrate’s courts.
Only children who are declared legally orphaned or abandoned by a judge at the end of the referral process are available for adoption. However, Longoria admitted to paying bribes to Ugandan probation officers to influence them to issue favourable probation reports – recommending that a particular child be placed into an orphanage.
Further, she also admitted to payments to court registrars to influence them to assign particular cases to certain justices of the High court who were deemed to be “adoption-friendly.” She also admitted to bribing Ugandan High court judges themselves to influence them to issue favourable guardianship orders to the adoption agency’s clients.
The bribery scheme saw more than 30 Ugandan children adopted by American citizens for which the adoption charged more than $800,000 (about Shs 3 billion) in fees to the clients. The paid bribes were concealed from the adopting parents.
“This defendant has admitted to playing a part in a conspiracy in which judges and other court officials in Africa were paid bribes to corrupt the adoption process,” said U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman of the Northern District of Ohio. “We are committed to pursuing justice for the adoptive parents and for all parties involved.”
“While adoptive families were financially and emotionally invested in the welfare of their future child, misrepresentations were made by Ms. Longoria and others to disguise bribe payments made to court officials in Uganda,” said Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office. “We are pleased Ms. Longoria has accepted responsibility for her role in facilitating an international adoption scam.”
Between 2013 and 2016, the attorney directed bribes to government officials in Uganda to influence them to facilitate adoptions. Probation officers, court registrars and adoption-friendly judges all received bribes to achieve favorable results, officials said.
The agent and her staff sent regular emails to Longoria and another agency manager requesting payment, sometimes for bribes. They were not explicitly described as bribes but rather “fees,” according to prosecutors.
Regardless, Longoria and the adoption agency wired money to the attorney knowing the money would be used, at least in part, for bribes.
The agency also hid from clients how their money was used. In one instance in September 2016, a client emailed Longoria and others asking for a breakdown of what the foreign program fees covered. Longoria responded by lying, writing that “[w]e do not have more detailed information,” according to the information.
Longoria, the agency manager, the attorney and others also caused clients to provide false information to the State Department in order to obtain visas, according to prosecutors. That included submitting false documentation to the U.S. government.
Then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sued European Adoption Consultants in June 2017, saying Cole and the agency took money from clients and did not follow through with the services it promised.
When the State Department barred the agency from international adoptions, it had 300 clients at various stages of the adoption process when it was barred by the State Department, according to the state’s lawsuit. European Adoption Consultants was to issue refunds and transfer its cases to other groups. However, Cole and the agency did not do so, even though they posted notices on the agency’s website that they would.
Cole, the agency and the Attorney General’s Office settled the lawsuit last month. The agency agreed to dissolve, pay $260,000 to reimburse clients. Cole agreed to be permanently barred from soliciting for a charitable in organization or incorporating a nonprofit in Ohio.
The company also agreed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines if they do not comply with the agreement.
Longoria is scheduled to be sentenced on January 8, 2020 before U.S. District judge Christopher A. Boyko.
