Jury finds Uzbek national guilty of making false statements

 

Date: March 8, 2023

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

A federal jury in Bridgeport has found Sidikjon Mamadjonov, a citizen of Uzbekistan formerly residing in New Britain, guilty of making false statements to federal law enforcement and in immigration proceedings.

The trial before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden began on March 1 and the jury returned the guilty verdicts yesterday.

U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division, Special Agent in Charge Robert Fuller of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New Haven Division, and Special Agent in Charge Matthew B. Millhollin of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston made the announcement.

According to the evidence disclosed during the trial, Mamadjonov immigrated to the U.S. in February 2009 and became a lawful permanent resident in September 2010.

On May 27, 2013, Mamadjonov departed the U.S. on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. During or before this trip, he learned that his brother, Saidjon Mamadjonov, had been killed while fighting in the civil war in Syria. Sidikjon Mamadjonov returned to the U.S. on June 11, 2013. In early July 2013, he received a DHL package that contained an iPhone 4. On the phone were several videos and photographs depicting Saidjon in Syria, including videos of Saidjon cleaning weapons in military dress while armed with a weapon, and a photograph of Saidjon after he was killed.

During three interviews with FBI special agents in 2014, Mamadjonov responded to questions about the trip he took to Turkey in 2013, and questions about his brother. Mamadjonov made multiple false statements, including that his brother was alive and living in Turkey or Dubai, that he met with his brother while he was in Turkey in 2013, and that his brother sent him a package after he returned from his trip.

In August 2016, Mamadjonov stated to FBI special agents that he had a received a package from Sidikjon, did not know the whereabouts of Saidjon, had not overheard any discussions of Uzbeks in the U.S. going over to Syria to fight, and was not aware of any Uzbeks travelling to Syria. At that time, Sidikjon knew that Saidjon was an Uzbek who had traveled from the U.S. to Syria and had died while fighting in the civil war, and that he died prior to the date the package was sent.

On October 27, 2016, in an interview with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer regarding his U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services an Application for Naturalization, Form N-400 that he had submitted in September 2014, Mamadjonov again provided false statements about his brother and whether he had previously lied to the FBI.

Mamadjonov was arrested on December 22, 2017.