A Los Angeles man was sentenced today to 150 years in prison for sexually abusing three minor girls during trips to Russia over a two-year period, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

In November 2015, a jury convicted Yusef Yunosovich Abramov, 58, of five felony counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.  U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II of the Central District of California also imposed a lifetime term of supervised release.

According to the evidence introduced at trial, in June 2009, Abramov, a dual Russian and U.S. citizen, flew from Los Angeles to Russia, and shortly after his arrival, he raped a 12-year-old girl and threatened to sever her head and play soccer with it if she told anyone about the abuse.  The trial evidence showed that in November 2009, Abramov again traveled to Russia and engaged in further sexual abuse of minor girls.

Trial evidence additionally demonstrated that in March 2010, believing that local schoolgirls had contacted the police, Abramov and two accomplices cornered three minor girls.  Abramov threatened all three girls while wielding a knife and each man then raped one of the girls.  The evidence showed that after threatening the girls' lives, Abramov continued to rape at least two of the girls during that trip and subsequent trips to Russia.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, in cooperation with The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Moscow City Police, investigated this case.  Trial Attorneys Maureen C. Cain and Ravi Sinha of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) prosecuted the case.  The Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs also provided assistance.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visitwww.justice.gov/psc.

Criminal Division Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

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Project Safe Childhood Updated March 14, 2016

Central District of California DOJ / 16-288 / March 14, 2016