Rwandan Refugee’s Naturalization Fraud Sentence Looms Large
Gervais (Ken) Ngombwa, a 26-year resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been convicted by a jury of naturalization fraud and conspiracy in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.
The evidence presented at trial revealed that Ngombwa fled Rwanda with relatives during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. In 1998, he knowingly made several material false statements to procure entry into the United States as a refugee from Rwanda. Ngombwa falsely claimed to be the brother of Faustin Twagiramungu, a former Prime Minister of Rwanda, who lives in exile in Belgium.
In evidentiary hearings in advance of formal imposition of sentence, the United States presented the testimony of multiple witnesses, including agents from the Department of Homeland Security who conducted extensive investigation in Rwanda. The testimony included evidence about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of people from the Tutsi ethnic group were killed.
Ngombwa was implicated by numerous witnesses interviewed in Rwanda as a political leader in his community who actively directed and participated in the commission of genocidal acts. Ngombwa was also named in an Indictment brought in 2010 against Jean Uwinkindi by the United Nations Joint Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, as a co-participant in a “joint criminal enterprise whose common purpose was the commission of genocide against the Tutsi racial or ethnic group and persons identified as Tutsi or presumed to support the Tutsi[.]”
Ngombwa’s U.S. citizenship has been revoked and he faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and eventual removal to Rwanda to face further incarceration and prosecution there.
Assistant United States Attorneys Richard Murphy and Ravi Narayan from the Northern District of Iowa were honored at the seventh annual Anti-Defamation League SHIELD Awards for their role in the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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