Fugitive Charged With Human Trafficking



Veniamin Gonikman, 55, a US citizen, was arrested in the Ukraine Wednesday and deported back the United States to be charged. Gonikman fled the country before he could be formally charged with 22-count indictment with trafficking in persons, forced labor, alien smuggling, money laundering, extortion collection and conspiracy, among other charges. He was on the top ten most wanted by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for smuggling women from Eastern Europe into the United States and forcing them to work in the strip clubs in Detroit. Gonikman came to the attention of federal agents in 2005, when his victims escaped and it was confirmed he was operating a company out of Detroit called Beauty, Inc. The indictment alleges that Gonikman and his associates developed Beauty, Inc. as a cover for human trafficking. They smuggled the women into the United States and forced the women to work long hours in the strip clubs. Gonikman and his associates, took all of the women's money and kept them under their control through through threats, coercion and isolation. Gonikman's associates, including his son Aleksandr Maksimenko, Duay Joseph Jado, Evgeniy Prokopenko, and Michail Aronovo, were previously convicted and sentenced on similar charges. They are currently serving prison sentences ranging from seven to 14 years.
Personally, I feel that serving seven to to fourteen years is not a long enough sentence. It's time for the American government to make an example of people like Gonikman and his associates. Let the Gonikmans of the world know the United States Government will not let you slide by with a slap on the wrist for human trafficking and enslavement, because if these men are capable of smuggling women into the country then what is stopping them from kidnapping our young girls and enslaving them in the human sex trade. We know it already happens.