US Woman Admits to Bribing Ugandan High Court Judges in Fraudulent Adoption Cases

A Texas woman who headed an international program at an Ohio-based

adoption agency has pleaded guilty for her role in a scheme to corruptly

facilitate adoptions of Ugandan children through bribing Ugandan officials

and defrauding U.S. adoptive parents and the U.S. Department of State.

Longoria, who was released on a $20,000 bond will be sentenced on January

8, 2020, before U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the Northern

District of Ohio.

Court records do not name the agency, nor the owner. However, the FBI has

been investigating European Adoption Consultants, a now-defunct agency

that operated out of the Cleveland suburb, as well as its owner Margaret

Cole.

The State Department said the agency operated adoption programs in

Bulgaria, China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti,

Honduras, India, Panama, Poland, Tanzania, Uganda and Ukraine.

As part of her guilty plea, Longoria admitted, among other things, that she

and her co-conspirators agreed to, and did cause bribes disguised as fees to

be paid to a Uganda Agent.

According to court documents, Longoria knew that these fees would and

were used to pay bribes to court registrars and Ugandan High Court judges

to corruptly influence the court registrars to assign particular cases to

“adoption-friendly” judges and to corruptly influence the judges to grant the

U.S. clients of the adoption agency the authority to bring the Ugandan

children to the United States for the purpose of adoption.

Longoria also admitted that for the purpose of adoption.

Longoria also admitted that she and her co-conspirators agreed to, and did,

conceal these bribes from the adoption agency’s U.S. clients.

Further, Longoria admitted that she and her co-conspirators agreed to, and

did, create false documents for submission to the U.S. State Department to

mislead it in its adjudication of visa applications for the Ugandan children

being considered for adoption.

“The defendant compromised protections for vulnerable Ugandan children

and undermined the United States’ visa screening process,” said Assistant

Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal

Division.

“Today’s plea ensures that she is held accountable for the far-reaching

consequences of her corrupt conduct.”

Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office said

while adoptive families were financially and emotionally invested in the

welfare of their future child, misrepresentations were made by Ms. Longoria

and others to disguise bribe payments made to court officials in Uganda.

“We are pleased Ms. Longoria has accepted responsibility for her role in

facilitating an international adoption scam.”