Remember when news broke that Phil Murphy’s soccer team was involved in an alleged visa fraud scheme?

I remember!

Back in February after several news reports of alleged visa fraud involving Murphy’s soccer team (here, here and here) I blogged about the issue and wondered if “the press in New Jersey will let Murphy off the hook again.”

Needless to say New Jersey press did let Murphy off the hook again. The press here paid little attention to Murphy renaming his women’s professional soccer team the NJ/NY Gotham FC.

Never mind that a sitting Governor of New Jersey would allow his team to be named New York anything and have a giant NY in its logo. I suspect the name change was to hide from the negative press the club did receive. The rebranding happened shortly after the news of the alleged visa scheme broke.

After I wrote our blog post about the alleged visa scheme I mostly ignored the soccer team because I got tired of writing about something it seemed nobody in New Jersey cared about.

But they should care!

Why?

Because it appears Murphy, or at least his soccer team, lied about the team’s association with Global Premier Soccer (GPS), the presumed masterminds of the alleged visa scheme.

Back in February, in a statement, management of Murphy’s soccer team told the Boston Globe they stopped dealing with Global Premier Soccer (GPS) in 2016. From the Boston Globe article:

Sky Blue’s current management said in a statement to the Globe, “In 2018, Sky Blue personnel became aware of an investigation relating to Global Premier Soccer. The team has received no further information about the investigation since then and has had no relationship with GPS since 2016.”

Unfortunately for Murphy, “no relationship with GPS since 2016” is an untrue statement. We know this because in March of this year the Boston Globe reported that in 2017 Global Premier Soccer (GPS) tried to bring a guy by the name Bogdan Botezatu back into the United States on a visa through Murphy’s soccer team. From the Boston Globe:

Records show that Global Premier initially tried to bring Botezatu to the United States as a coach in 2017 by arranging for Sky Blue FC to submit a US immigration petition stating he would work for the team in New Jersey as a professional scout.

When that failed, company executives tried later that year to bring him in on a seasonal visa through ATSC, according to e-mails among Global Premier officials and Botezatu.

For the math challenged 2017 is after 2016, and just as a point of information, ATSC is Advanced Total Soccer Coaching, is a New Jersey based organization (we’re working to establish a connection, if there is one, to Murphy and/or his soccer team).

As to Botezatu, he’s a bad guy! The kind of guy that you probably don’t want around kids. According to CTV News in Calgary, Canada in February of this year Botezatu was arrested for “alleged sexual assaults where underage girls were groped.” From CTV News:

In connection with the three alleged assaults that took place between November 2020 and February, Botezatu has been charged with:

· Sexual assault (three counts)

· Sexual assault with a person under 16 (two counts)

· Wearing a disguise while committing an offence.

I’m not saying Murphy knew Botezatu. What I am saying is that in 2017 Murphy’s soccer team was definitely involved with trying to bring Botezatu, now an arrested, alleged child molester into the country and when that didn’t work another New Jersey entity was suggested.

What really angers me, is that we now know, with documented proof from a credible news outlet, the Boston Globe, that Murphy’s soccer team was involved with trying to bring a guy into this country through a fraudulent visa scheme who ended up allegedly molesting underage girls. And that it happened AFTER the team claims to have stopped communicating with Global Premier Soccer.

We also know that Murphy’s soccer team was very active in the alleged visa scam. According to the Boston Globe, “Other than the Breakers, Sky Blue was Global Premier’s most active partner in the immigration arrangement, submitting petitions for about 40 visa applicants on behalf of Global Premier, according to company records.”

Given the news about Botezatu, the question has to be asked, how many of the 40 “applicants” Murphy’s soccer team brought into the country are scumbags?

It looks to me that Murphy has a lot of explaining to do. If the press in New Jersey is going to keep letting Murphy off the hook, then the Bob & Steve Show will have to do the work.

Who knows, maybe Governor Andrew Cuomo will end up calling on Murphy to resign.

There is going to be much more to come on this. Stay tuned!