“Host Ukraine” Executive Director Ordered to Pay $172,158 in Restitution for Fraudulently Obtaining Visas, Tax Evasion

Press Release

Colleen Holt-Thompson's Kentucky-based non-profit paired orphans with host families

PORTLAND, Maine: A Kentucky woman was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and tax evasion.

U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. ordered Colleen Holt-Thompson, 58, to pay $172,158.79 in restitution and sentenced her to probation for three years. Holt-Thompson pleaded guilty on January 29, 2024.

According to court records, Holt-Thompson founded Host Ukraine in 2015 in Newport, Kentucky and served as the non-profit's executive director. The organization brought children living in orphanages in Ukraine to stay with American families for short periods over the summer or winter holidays. As part of the program, Host Ukraine was required to have the permission of the Ministry of Social Policy in Ukraine to transport each child, and the name and address of a hosting family was required before permission would be granted. Once permission was granted, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine would issue a non-immigrant visa to the child. The Ministry's approval was a prerequisite to the issuance of the visas.

Between 2015 and 2019, Thompson applied for and received Ministry hosting permission for 828 U.S. non-immigrant visas for Ukrainian children. To obtain the visas, Holt-Thompson would provide placeholder names - names and addresses of American families who had not actually agreed to serve as hosts - when she submitted names of Ukrainian children to the Ministry. Before the children traveled to the U.S., she would find actual host families for each child. During the period of the conspiracy, a coconspirator who lived in Maine and was the Northeast contact for Host Ukraine was responsible for identifying placeholder families in Maine and recruiting families to serve as actual host families for the Ukrainian children who traveled to the U.S. on fraudulently obtained visas.

Host families were charged a $3,000 fee to host a child, and Host Ukraine also collected donations. In 2016, Holt-Thompson spent approximately $127,610 in personal expenses and paid for those expenses from Host Ukraine's checking account or paid personal credit card bills using Host Ukraine's checking account. The money spent on personal expenses was not reported as income on the tax return Holt-Thompson and her husband filed. Holt-Thompson reported her taxable income for that year as only $47,226. In addition, Holt-Thompson failed to file a tax return for Host Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

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Updated July 31, 2024