Two men have been sentenced in connection with a South Beach B-Girls scheme that brought in over $1 million in fraudulent charges.
According to court documents, Albert Takhalov, 31, of Sunny Isles Beach, and Isaac Feldman, 51, of Sunny Isles Beach, were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The scheme involved bringing Eastern European women into the United States illegally to work as Bar Girls or B-Girls, luring out-of-town businessmen and tourists from legitimate South Beach clubs to the defendants’ private clubs.
Once at the private clubs, the victims were charged exorbitant prices for bottles of alcohol and then drugged or intoxicated, allowing the B-Girls to make unauthorized charges on their credit cards and even forge their signatures.
Takhalov was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while Feldman received 8 years and 4 months in prison.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Miami Beach Police Department, and ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations.
The defendants were also joined by two other co-defendants, Stanislav Pavlenko and Kristina Takhalov, who pleaded guilty to various charges in the scheme.
Pavlenko is scheduled to be sentenced on May 31, 2013, while the status of the remaining defendant, Andrejs Romanovs, who remains a fugitive, is currently unknown.
Related Federal Cases
- Damion Bryan Barrett, Wire Fraud, Florida 2008 · Florida
- Michael Szafranski, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Florida 2009 · Florida
- Louis A. Francois, Wire Fraud Aggravated Identity Theft, Florida 2023 · Florida
- Oneike Mickhale Barnett, Wire Fraud, Florida 2014 · Florida
- Jeaneno Florent, Wire Fraud, Florida 2014 · Florida
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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