The US System of Injustice

Lev Trakhtenberg survived the former U.S.S.R. and then left Russia in 1992, seeking a better life. For a while, the educated Russian found that life promoting and managing what began as a dance troupe, but he soon looked to other avenues in the entrepreneurial arena of American life. In truth it was a simple operation that violated only one law concerning making a false declaration on a visa application for the "dance troupe" participants from Voronezh, Russia. In November of 2004, Lev pled guilty to conspiracy and extortion in what the government referred to as a forced labor and trafficking of women case, and was sentenced in June of 2005 to 60 months in federal prison. The Victims of Trafficking Protection Act of 2000 was used in prosecuting the case.

The case itself was one more tragedy in the US system of injustice, though few would ever know this. At Lev's sentencing he had to apologize to the alleged victims and admit to acts that he never committed. I think this was the hardest thing for him – he didn't realize that we have show trials here in the US too, but he learned quickly. I ran down my cellular phone battery as a 2004 hurricane was hitting Cocoa Beach and I spoke to a distressed Lev for two hours. Both the man and the real picture were quite different than what was painted in the courtroom on the day of his sentencing.

Lev, his wife Viktoriya I'Lina, and co-defendant Sergey Malchikov hatched a plan to place ads in a newspaper in Voronezh seeking dancers, only the women were to dance in men's clubs in New Jersey. Each woman was made aware of what dancing in these clubs entailed, as was detailed in several statements that the defense obtained during the case and from reading the descriptive ads that were placed in the newspapers. The agreement included the business partners furnishing the women with apartments in Brooklyn, flight to and from the US, and transportation to and from the clubs. The women agreed to pay approximately $5600 for the package from their earnings as dancers. Malchikov threatened one of the women when she demanded to return to Russia before repaying this sum – enter the government. When Malchikov turned informant, the entire case was thrown at Lev, new to entrepreneurial capitalism, and perplexed by the potential prison sentence of over 100 years for his part in the venture.

The stories came out when some of the former dancers managed to escape the clutches of the N.J. and N.Y. federal prosecutors and returned to Voronezh, submitting sworn affidavits favorable to Lev. Several of the women stayed in the US and continued to work in these same clubs, during the case, that the government had them claiming Lev forced them to work in when they became government witnesses. Those that stayed were threatened with imprisonment if they did not testify to the government's satisfaction and offered visas and green cards for themselves and their relatives if they did. One of the ladies married a club patron. The choice wasn't that hard for women seeking the American dream.

As with many defendants in the US criminal justice system, Lev's money was forfeited so that he had no way to defend himself and his wife. To add to the plot, when he refused to plead guilty on the N.J. charges, federal prosecutors in N.Y. filed similar charges there and he received a double whammy! With no way to fight off both federal courts he gave up and took the deal. Though the case is long forgotten for many, Lev was recently released to community corrections and will soon be released by the Bureau of Prisons. This former defendant wishes him the best in his future pursuits in life.