Entertainment Recruiter's Likely Ties to Visa Fraud

1. We have noted a pattern of visa abuse that strongly
implicates Magic Star Entertainment (MSE) -- 142 Estates
Circle, Lake Mary, FL 32746, phones (407) 322-9211 and (407)
322-9322, email Kristo500@aol.com, website www.magic-
star.com -- in alien smuggling, using the P1 visa category.
MSE's president is Christo Ivanov, a.k.a. Kristo Ivanov, and
its primary attorney is Mr. Scott A. Silzer -- Suite 3-1142,
Lakeview Office Park, 1155 South Semoran Blvd, Winter Park,
Florida, 32792, 407) 697-0101, silzer@earthlink.net.



2. Since 1998 we have processed more then one hundred P1
visa applications from MSE. MSE is also active in Ukraine,
Russia, and Romania. In mid-November, our FPU heard from
informants that MSE would begin to forward its East European
visa clients to the U.S. Embassy in London. This may be an
attempt to avoid the extra scrutiny these applicants have
recently been subjected to in Sofia, and probably in Ukraine
and Russia as well. We have informed FPU London of our
information.



3. Our best current source regarding (supposed) circus
performers, in particular, listed on MSE petitions is a
former circus performer -- Alexander Yuliev -- who had been
in the business for decades. Yuliev's wife, Zoya Yulieva, a
Russian citizen born 06 Jan 1955 in Ukraine, abandoned him
by immigrating to the U.S. via this P1 scam. Yuliev
believed his wife had gone to Moscow to visit her sister in
April 2004, but later learned she was actually in the U.S.
caring for elderly people.



4. Mrs. Yulieva had been issued a P1 visa in Sofia on
12/29/2003 on the basis of an MSE petition. Mr. Yuliev was
shocked when he found out, because although his wife had
once been a circus performer she had not been able to
perform for years because of a serious past injuries to her
shoulder, back and groin. In fact, in 2001 the Bulgarian
Health Ministry had certified that she had lost significant
working capacity and was entitled to social security
benefits as a disabled person. Clearly, then, she was not a
legitimate circus performer when she applied for her P1 visa
in Sofia. Although technically still married to Mr. Yuliev,
Yulieva has filed for divorce and expressed the intention to
begin using her maiden name, Linkova. Yuliev believes she
has arranged to marry an Amcit to legalize her status in the
U.S.



5. Yuliev has known MSE president Christo Ivanov for some 20
years, and says Ivanov is a former circus performer who has
lived in the U.S. for many years and provides circus
performers and dancers for cruise lines, shows, theme parks
and circuses. Yuliev also claims Ivanov is likely involved
in smuggling women to the U.S. for prostitution as well, and
that, with the help of his lawyers, has obtained many P1
visas for phony Bulgarian circus performers. These
applicants subsequently got work in the U.S. as carpenters,
cleaners, drivers and so on. According to Yuliev, Ivanov
received USD 2000 from each of these applicants, plus USD
100 monthly until the applicant is able to adjust status and
reside legally in his or her new home.



6. FPU has developed a general profile fitting MSE's "bad"
P1 applicants (the company also gets visas for legitimate
performers). Often they try to pass off newspaper clippings
or general articles about circuses as supporting documents,
even though a fairly cursory look will reveal these are
unconnected to the applicants themselves. When spouses
apply together, one of them typically has relatives in the
U.S. and/or was previously refused a B1/B2 visa. They may
be unable to explain with any confidence or detail what they
do, and we have also seen a fair share of fake documents and
altered photos with these cases.



7. Earlier this year we met with Mr. Ivanov. He wanted to
discuss the visa denials of the members of the dance troupe
"Step Vision" (petition SRC-04-201-51032). We stressed that
none of his P1 applicants petitions would be approved
without very reliable proof of skills. Ivanov explained
that he knew about the many unqualified P1 applicants that
had come our way through his company, but he claimed that he
had not been personally involved in the selection process.
He vowed that henceforth he would personally make all
selections. For the "Step Vision" troupe he presented us
with video tapes, on the basis of which we issued P1 visas
to 4 out of 9 applicants. These four were: Donika Gencheva
Ivanova (DOB 28 Jan 1981), Nevena Georgieva Ivanova (DOB 24
May 1980), Diana Kirilova Slavcheva (DOB 03 Apr 1971) and
Silviya Peteva Eremieva (DOB 21 Oct 1979). This month
Yuliev told us that none of these putative dancers has ever
performed stateside, but are in fact working there as
babysitters, cooks and housecleaners.



8. A similar story unfolded with the acrobatic troupe
"Sofia" (petition SRC-05-059-52300). The members of this
group are Alexander Petrov Tomov (12 Oct 1962), Georgi
Dimitrov Georgiev 08 Jun 1984), Yusein Aliev Yuseinov (02
Jun 1981), Todor Zdravkov Yordanov (23 Aug 1967), Dimitar
Nikolov Dimitrov (18 Mar 1975), Darinka Velinova Angelova
(26 Jan 1984), Radostina Dimitrova Todorova (09 Sep 1983)
and Radostin Nachkov Naydenov (29 Jul 1977). They all
applied on 1/19/2005 and were all denied under 214(b). Soon
thereafter we received an email from the attorney Mr. Silzer
vouching for the acrobats/performers and highlighting their
notoriety and importance. In light of this additional
information we called them in for a second interview, and
were shown pictures and videos. We issued P1 visas to 7 of
the 8 troupe members. The lone refusal resulted from a
possible NCIC match, which required fingerprinting and
follow-up. Now we hear from both Yuliev and another source
that not one of these performers is working in accordance
with the petition submitted by MSE, but rather all have
illegally taken up other unskilled jobs.



9. We encourage all indicated parties to pursue further
investigation in connection with Ivanov and Magic Star
Entertainment. We are anxious to collaborate, and in this
regard we would be happy to share any documents or
information from our files that might prove useful.

Beyrle