A North Little Rock, Ark., man accused of scheming to recruit foreign truck drivers to work in the United States without proper visas pleaded guilty this week to visa fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Philip Ruston, 27, also agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in the case, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. For his guilty plea, the federal government dropped charges of racketeering, alien smuggling, alien harboring, and numerous others.
Ruston, his father Peter, Hoani Harawira of New Zealand, and Anthony Kurr of Australia, were co-defendants in an indictment that alleged that the elder Ruston - through a company called the Trek Group - contracted with U.S. trucking companies for work for drivers from Australia and New Zealand. The indictment said Peter Ruston falsely claimed the drivers were authorized to live and work in the United States.
Harawira acted as Trek Group's New Zealand recruiter, and Kurr recruited Australians. Both men admitted to telling truck drivers to lie on visa applications about their reason for going to the United States, whether they would be working, where they would stay and how long they would be in the country. The men face up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
A year-long investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, State Department, Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Border Patrol and by the Australian Federal Police and Victoria State Police in Australia yielded indictments against two groups. In October 1999, a federal grand jury handed down two indictments - one involving four people, including Ruston; the other involving six. The government said the 10 defendants collected $14.6 million among them, mostly from American trucking companies, through their schemes.
The case against the six defendants in the second group, called the Alewide Group, is scheduled for trial Oct. 15.