Janelle Irwin Taylor
A foreign national is expected to discuss her actions after being accused of submitting 132 fraudulent voter registration applications to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections in February and March of 2023.
Inna Kuznietsova will be deposed Monday at 1 p.m. at the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa over her role in a voter fraud scheme prosecutors say was overseen by two conspirators in 2023.
The deposition is part of sentencing proceedings against Dmitry Shushlebin, who pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to submit fraudulent voter registrations and four counts of submitting fraudulent voter registrations.
Other charges include making false statements, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. Under his guilty plea, Shushlebin “only admitted to a handful of facts,” according to the motion to depose Kuznietsova. Shushlebin is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 23 and the deposition “is relevant to establishing that he qualifies for an aggravating role enhancement” at the sentencing hearing.
Kuznietsova is one of “several other individuals” investigators say were hired to “work subject to (Shushlebin’s) direction and control in furtherance of his fraud scheme.”
Kuznietsova has agreed to testify against Shushlebin about work she performed under his direction, but she is planning to leave the U.S. by the end of the month and is not planning to return, making her deposition this week necessary to prove that the sentencing enhancement is relevant, as Shushlebin did not admit to Kuznietsova’s participation.
Prosecutors say Shushlebin, along with fellow conspirator Sanjar Jamilov, submitted to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections voter registration applications in names other than their own, in envelopes with return address labels that were all identically formatted and contained the same typographic errors.
Other signs of fraud included repeated birth dates and nearly sequential Social Security numbers. The two suspects are also accused of submitting change of address forms to the U.S. Postal Service to route mail to three locations allegedly under the control of Shushlebin and Jamilov.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement have investigated the case. The investigation began after a referral from the Florida Department of State’s Office of Election Crime and Security.
Both suspects were indicted on the charges in February.
Jamilov entered a guilty plea in his case in April. In the plea agreement, Jamilov stated that Shushlebin hired him and others to submit more than 100 fraudulent voter registration applications to the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections.
Jamilov is an Uzbekistan citizen.
The fraudulent voter registration applications in question were denied by the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Office at the time.
Shushlebin had previously entered a not guilty plea to all counts against him, but has now changed his plea to guilty. It’s not clear what penalties Shushlebin faces for his alleged crimes, but Jamilov faces up to five years in prison for his role.
