US Embassy official in Guyana removed in alleged sex-for-visas scandal

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Daily Caller:

A State Department officer has been accused of selling visas for sex and money in what may have been a massive human trafficking operation, The Daily Caller has learned.

The State Department acknowledged last week that one of its officials is the target of a probe over “allegations of improprieties relating to a Consular Officer formerly assigned to Georgetown, Guyana” without providing further details. Local media are also claiming the official, who was recently withdrawn from normal duties pending completion of an official investigation, associated with drug lords as part of his visa scam.

The scandal began when executives and tourists complained that their visa applications were being held up, and local media began reporting that a visa official was demanding bribes and sex in exchange for visas.

The Daily Caller has identified the suspect as Edy Zohar Rodrigues Duran, formerly of Mission, Texas, and currently living in Falls Church, Va.

Duran was removed from his post at the Guyanese capital of Georgetown in June of this year, months short of his scheduled September 2013 departure date, according to Mark A. Benschop and Julia Johnson, two Guyanese journalists who spoke with TheDC from Guyana.

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Pimping for the State Separtment.

[Valin]

The case of Aurelia Fedenisn

Scott Johnson

7/10/13

 

We wrote here (John) and here (me) about a State Department scandal involving the United States Ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman (among others). Gutman is a big Democratic donor who was appointed to his diplomatic post with a donor’s traditional qualifications. He was alleged to have patronized prostitutes including minors while at his post in Brussels. Gutman’s case was one of several said to have been investigated by the State Department Inspector General, but covered up on the intervention of the administration in a subsequent IG report.

 

(Snip)

 

The replacement of Gutman by Bauer vindicates the reporting on the scandal, but it is not the last word in the story. The office of the Dallas law firm that represents Fedenisn has been the subject of an unusual burglary. Burglars took three computers and broke into a locked metal filing cabinet. Other items of value—silver bars, electronic and video equipment—were left untouched.

 

The burglary was reported by local Fox affiliate KDFW, whose report was picked up by John Hudson at Foreign Policy’s blog. Hudson includes a video of the KDFW story in his post. KDFW’s report carries footage from a security camera showing two people, a man and a woman, entering the office building in which the law firm, Schulman & Mathias, is located.

 

(Snip)