U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero today announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Moses Slanger Wright, 69, of Philadelphia, with fraudulently attempting to obtain citizenship, fraud in immigration documents, false statements in relation to naturalization, and perjury following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Philadelphia.
During Liberia’s First Civil War, the Armed Forces of Liberia was locked in a campaign for control of the country with various rebel groups, most notably Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia. The indictment alleges that the defendant, when applying for U.S. citizenship, was not truthful about his activities during Liberia’s First Civil War while he was a member, and ultimately the commanding general of, the Armed Forces of Liberia. According to the indictment, Wright either personally committed, or ordered Armed Forces of Liberia troops under his command to commit numerous atrocities, including but not limited to, the persecution, murder, and assault of civilian noncombatant Gio and Mano tribesmen, as well as the false arrest and false imprisonment of civilian noncombatants.
