Justin Capell, Visa Fraud, Massachusetts 2021

Related Federal Cases

Letitia James, H-1B Visa Fee Fraud, New York 2023 · New York
Viviane Cazeau, Bank Fraud Scheme, Massachusetts, 2023 · New Hampshire
Twelve Individuals Plead Guilty to U-Visa and Marriage Fraud, Jacks… · Washington
Jayme Gordon, Kung Fu Panda Wire Fraud, Massachusetts 2024 · Rhode Island
Stephen S. Eubanks, Wire Fraud, Massachusetts 2024 · New Hampshire

Table of Contents

Former Youth Soccer Executive Pleads Guilty to Visa Fraud

BOSTON, Massachusetts – Justin Capell, the former Chief Operating Officer of Global Premier Soccer (GPS), a now defunct youth soccer organization formerly based in Waltham, Mass., pleaded guilty today in connection with a wide-ranging visa fraud conspiracy.

Capell, 39, of Southborough, Mass., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel scheduled sentencing for June 23, 2021.

According to court documents, from at least 2016 to October 2019, Capell conspired with other GPS executives and employees, and with GPS’s outside counsel, to defraud several federal agencies by submitting fraudulent visa petitions in order to secure work visas for hundreds of GPS employees.

The investigation revealed that Capell and his co-conspirators arranged to file fraudulent visa petitions on behalf of at least seven professional soccer teams in order to secure visas for GPS’s foreign coaching staff. The petitions falsely stated that the beneficiaries would be working as scouts or assistant coaches for the professional teams when in reality they were employed only as youth soccer coaches by GPS.

As part of the conspiracy, Capell and his co-conspirators submitted phony employment contracts between professional teams and the purported beneficiaries. It is also alleged that Capell and co-conspirators created fraudulent coaching licenses for the beneficiaries, which were included as part of the visa application packages.

Capell faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge are based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The investigation was conducted by HSI’s Document & Benefit Fraud Task Force, a specialized investigative group comprised of various local, state and federal agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mackenzie A Queenin and Jordi de Llano, Deputy Chief of Mendell’s Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit, are prosecuting the case.