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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | (202)
514-2007 |
AMERICAN SAMOAN OFFICIAL PLEADS GUILTY TO OBSTRUCTING FEDERAL SEX TRAFFICKING INVESTIGATION
WASHINGTON — Iona Uiagalelei, Acting Director of Property Management for the American Samoan government, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Honolulu to witness tampering in a federal sex trafficking investigation.
During his guilty plea, Uiagalelei admitted that on February 13, 2007, he met with two Chinese women and instructed them to lie when they testified before a federal grand jury in Honolulu. The two women were witnesses in the sex trafficking investigation of Chinese Nationals Fu Sheng Kuo and Shengji Wang. Despite Uiagalelei’s efforts to obstruct the investigation, Kuo and Wang were convicted earlier this year of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Chinese women smuggled into American Samoa and forced to work as prostitutes in nightclubs and brothels.
Uiagalelei faces a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000.
The Attorney General has made the prosecution of human trafficking crimes a top priority. In the last six fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with U.S. Attorney’s Offices, has increased by six-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court.
This case was investigated by the Honolulu Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Susan French prosecuted the case.
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