Samoa man who pled guilty to passport fraud sentenced in Honolulu

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A federal judge in Honolulu has sentenced a Samoan man who pled guilty to the theft of public money as well as passport fraud to just over one-year imprisonment and ordered him to pay restitution of more than $100,000, according to court records.

As previously reported by Samoa News, Laneserota Fa’avesi Seufale — who prosecutors say is a citizen of the Independent State of Samoa, obtained more than $117,000 in Social Security Administration benefits using another person’s name — pled guilty this year under a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Under the plea agreement, the government dismissed the charge pertaining to social security benefits, and the defendant remains in federal custody without bail since his arrest in late 2022.

Seufale appeared Wednesday before Chief U.S District Judge Derrick K. Watson for sentencing, as the defendant, represented by federal public defender Sharron Rancourt, had sought time-served as punishment for the crimes when sentenced. (See Samoa News Aug. 14 edition for defense sentencing statement.)

For prosecutors, they agreed with sentencing recommendations cited in the probation office report, which is under seal, as per court rules and not public information.

According to court documents and records, Watson sentenced Seufale to 13 months imprisonment for the two counts he pleaded guilty to.

He was placed on three-years supervised release upon completion of the jail term and paying restitution of $117,068.73 — which is the amount of social security benefits that prosecutors say Seufale received, by using the name and identify of a person who was born in American Samoa.

The court gave two recommendations in its decision: Seufale to serve the jail term at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu; and for him to receive vocational and educational training.

Earlier this week, Seufale filed with the court a written statement — including a translated version of it — to the presiding judge, saying that: “I have realized my humility, because of having broken the laws of this country.

“And I have sinned in the sight of God, and your Honor and the office of the court. I humbly beg with so much respect to forgive me, an ill and poor and humble man in my humiliation,” the defendant wrote.

“I am truly repentant, I fear God, I love my wife, and my children and my family. I respectfully ask your Honor, to be merciful to me and my family. I am poor and I am from a lowly family,” he said.

“Thank you very much for caring for me, the alien. May God bless your Honor and also the office of the court. I pray that you are all blessed in your Governmental duties, thank you very much your Honor for reading my letter, farewell and be blessed,” the letter concluded.

As previously reported by Samoa News this case was the result of a referral from the American Samoa Department of Homeland Security in August 2018 to the Honolulu Office of the U.S State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)

Around December 2018, DSS interviewed the defendant in American Samoa and during the interview — with the assistance of a translator — the “defendant admitted to obtaining three U.S Passports falsely using the identify of Person #1, and that the defendant’s true identity was Laneserota Fa’avesi Seufale — born in Samoa.”

And the defendant also admitted to receiving Social Security benefits in the name of Person #1. (See Samoa News edition April 28, 2023 for details.)