The Department of Justice announced last week that a federal grand jury in Sacramento has returned an 18-count indictment charging nine persons, including two former employees of the State Department, in connection with a scheme to sell entry visas into the United States. Eight of the nine defendants were arrested at locations in three states. The State Department employees charged are Long N. Lee, 51, and Acey R. Johnson, 32, and the two are married.

According to the 130-page complaint, the visa scheme involved the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the State Department employees in exchange for the issuing of visas to various foreign nationals, primarily from Vietnam and India.

All nine defendants are charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and to bribe public officials and to commit visa fraud.

In addition to conspiracy, Johnson and Lee are also charged with ten counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and one count of bribery. Vinesh Prasad, 33, is also charged with one count of visa fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of encouraging illegal entry of aliens for financial gain, and two counts of money laundering. The other defendants are Minesh Prasad, 28; Phuong-Hien Lam Trinh, 35; Rajwant S. Virk, 46; Davinder Singh Bhullar, 44; and Rachhpal Singh, 32.

Bhullar remains at large and is believed to be in India. He is currently a fugitive in an unrelated criminal case also pending in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

Each of the charges in the indictment is considered a felony. The maximum sentence for the conspiracy charge, and for each wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering charge is five years in prison, and each count also carries a penalty of up to three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.