Seventeen men and women—including some from Latvia and Estonia—have been charged in Miami Beach, Fla., in what U.S. authorities say was an elaborate scheme to bilk rich male patrons of private night clubs by getting them to pay exorbitant prices for drinks.

At least 88 tourists became victims of the scheme that involved Eastern European “bar girls” or “B-girls” luring them to private clubs, according to the criminal complaint filed April 6 in U.S. District Court in Miami. Once in the clubs, the men were tricked into paying dramatically inflated prices for drinks.

In one case, a victim had to pay USD 5,000 for a bottle of champagne. In another, a man from Philadelphia was defrauded of USD 43,000, which included him waking up in his hotel room with an unknown painting he apparently had purchased the night before.

“This is done by either having the female co-conspirators order multiple bottles of wine and champagne without the victim’s knowledge, misleading male victims about the price of alcohol, forging the victim’s signatures on credit card receipts, or processing unauthorized charges on the victim’s credit cards,” according to the criminal complaint.

In an early morning raid on clubs in Miami’s South Beach district, authorities arrested 16 alleged conspirators and “B-girls.” The alleged ringleader, 44-year-old Alec Simchuk of Hallandale Beach, Fla., is believed to have fled the United States.

Listed with Simchuk as conspirators and investors in the criminal organization that ran the scheme are Svetlana Coghlan, 41, of Hollywood, Fla.; Isaac Feldman, 50, of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.; Fady Kaldas, 35, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Stanislav Pavlenko, 39, of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.; Albert Takhalov, 29, of Aventura, Fla.; and Siavash Zargari, 46, of Miami Beach.

Federal authories built their case against the defendants by using a local undercover agent who posed as a corrupt police officer and infiltrated the organization, gaining the trust of the conspirators and the “B-girls,” according to the complaint. Other undercover agents posed as victims.

The organization, according to the complaint, opened at least six South Beach clubs, obtained liquor and business licenses, and acquired merchant account and credit card terminals to be used in the clubs.

The conspirators also are alleged to have organized the “B-girls” to come to the U.S., slipping them through the Visa Waiver Program by claiming that the women were not coming to work or to engage in criminal activity. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were admitted to the program in November 2008, meaning citizens of those countries no longer have to obtain a visa to visit America.

The women are said to have been trained in Eastern Europe to work the fraud scheme.

In Miami, the women would work in pairs, hunting for the victims in other clubs, usually between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

“B-Girls’ ideal targets are wealthy males, preferably tourists or traveling businessmen due to the low probability that they will come back into the club once they have discovered the money charged to their account,” according to the criminal complaint. “Expensive watches or shoes, amongst other factors, are used to identify such targets.”

The women would lure their fraud victims to one of the clubs run by the conspirators. Once there, they would work with the bartender to trick the men into buying expensive drinks.

Defendants named as “B-girls” in the complaint are Victorija Artemjeva, 21, of Latvia; Irina Domkova, 22, of Estonia; Anna Kilimatova, 25, of Latvia; Valeria Matsova, 22, of Estonia; Anastassia Mikrukova, 32, of Estonia; Agnese Rudaka, 22, of Latvia; Kristina Takhalov, 29, of Miami Beach; Marina Turcina, 24, of Latvia; Anastassia Usakova, 25, of Estonia; and Julija Vinogradova, 22, of Latvia.

Artemjeva, according to the complaint, had worked for Simchuk in Estonia. Three other women were planning to work a club Simchuk was opening in Prague.

According to the complaint, the pair of “B-girls” would get about 20 percent of the victim’s bill, while the bartenders or managers would get 10 percent. The rest of the bill would go to the criminal organization.

Problems continue in Rīga

The alleged scheme is reminiscent of similar frauds reported against foreign clients in a number of bars, clubs and lounges in Rīga, Latvia’s capital city.

U.S. and officials from other countries have complained for several years to the Latvian government about the problem. In a November 2008 “warden message,” the U.S. Embassy in Rīga warned travelers to stay clear of bars, clubs and lounges that have been reported to overcharge for drinks.

The warning was updated last month.

“There have been a number of additional reports recently of foreign tourists being charged extortionate prices for drinks in bars,” according to embassy’s message posted on its website. “Some have then been assaulted, threatened or forced to withdraw money from an ATM to pay for the bill.”

The embassy names 10 establishments that are off limits to its staff and their families. Almost all of the businesses are located within the popular Old Town district.

A woman from Latvia charged in the brutal murder of an 83-year-old Adelaide resident begins her trial April 4 in the Supreme Court of South Australia.

Angelika Gavare, 35, is charged with murdering pensioner Vonne McGlynn, parts of whose dismembered body were found February 2009 in a park two months after she was reported missing. However, the victim’s head has not been found.

Gavare, who in April 2010 pleaded not guilty to the charge, is alleged to have killed McGlynn, putting pieces of the body in plastic bags and using a child’s stroller to transport them to a creek not far from her house in Christie Downs, a suburb of Adelaide.

McGlynn’s body was identified by a serial number on an artificial hip, according to Australian press reports.

Gavare, a recent immigrant to Australia, was not known in the local Latvian community, Valdis Tomanis, Latvia’s honorary consul in Adelaide, told Latvians Online in February 2009.

After undergoing psychological tests in 2010, Gavare in June was declared fit for trial.

Gavare, a mother of two, also has been accused of stealing the identities of a number of elderly people.

Gavare’s murder case will be heard by Justice Patricia Kelly, according to court records.

Legislation that would allow dual citizenship for a wide range of Latvians living abroad has passed its first reading in the Saeima, but the bill’s second reading will come only after Sept. 1.

MPs voted 92-0 on March 31 to support a bill proposed by the Unity (Vienotība) bloc. The bill, No. 238/Lp10, would amend the Citizenship Law to allow World War II exile Latvians and their descendants to claim Latvian citizenship without giving up ties to their adopted countries.

Among other affected groups, the bill also would allow dual citizenship for former Latvian citizens who have become citizens of European Union, European Free Trade Association and NATO defense alliance member states.

The vote followed a half hour of debate that saw MPs from the right-wing National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”) suggest that some amendments could be pushed through sooner than later, such as lifting the post-1995 restriction on dual citizenship for the exile community.

Dzintars Rasnačs of the National Alliance told the Saeima that while his fraction would support the Unity proposal, putting off the second reading of the entire bill until after Sept. 1 would mean that the fixes to the Citizenship Law might only be ready by Christmas.

“But there are things that we could solve quickly and without delay,” Rasnačs said, according to a translation of the Saeima debate transcript. “They are questions about resolving the dual citizenship issue for occupation-era exiles and their descendants… As you know, on July 1, 1995, a stop was put to this procedure. This should be restarted.”

Rasnačs was referring the so-called “transitional rules” of the Citizenship Law that allowed exiles and their descendants to register as Latvian dual citizens from 1991 until the summer of 1995. Under the law, it no longer is possible to become a dual citizen.

The first reading came after the Saeima’s Law Commission (Juridiskā komisija) on March 23 decided to kill a similar bill, No. 201/Lp10, proposed by the National Alliance. The commission also had considered an initiative from President Valdis Zatlers, many of whose suggestions for reforming the Citizenship Law were included in Unity’s bill.

Missing from the bill is the president’s proposal to ease the path to Latvian citizenship for children born of non-citizens living in Latvia, the majority of whom are Russian speakers. Under the president’s proposal, citizenship would be granted automatically, rather than through the bureaucratic process now in place requiring the parents to register the child. Instead, Zatlers suggested that those parents who want to renounce Latvian citizenship for their children could do so through a formal process.

Even the center-left and pro-Russian Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs) backed the Unity bill. However, MP Valērijs Agešins told the Saiema that his fraction would want to see some changes to the legislation.

“In my opinion, it is necessary for us to support Unity’s proposed bill with a goal of then consolidating this bill with the president’s proposals,” he said. “Only in that way can we move forward.”

Rašnacs, however, promised a fight over the president’s proposal on registration of non-citizens’ children. He said it is “interesting” that Tatjana Ždanoka, a European Commissioner and member of the pro-Moscow For Human Rights in United Latvia (Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā), has expressed her support for Zatlers’s proposal.

The Saeima also supported setting a Sept. 1 deadline for recommendations in advance of the second reading. The deadline was approved with a vote of 82 for, 8 against, and 2 abstaining. The National Alliance had called for a May 1 deadline.

The parliament also briefly debated the need for a special subcommission being set up to discuss modifications to the Citizenship Law. The subcommission, which would answer to the Law Commission, is to have two representatives from each of the five parties represented in the Saeima.

Māris Kučinskis of the For a Good Latvia! (Par labu Latviju!) fraction wondered why a subcommission is needed if the Saeima already has an established commission that reviews implementation of the Citizenship Law.