Dmitry Shushlebin, 45, a Russian citizen residing in Miami Beach, and Sanjar Jamilov, 33, an Uzbekistan citizen living in St. Petersburg, have been arrested for submitting 132 fraudulent voter registration applications to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections. The men are charged with conspiracy to submit fake voter registrations and providing false information during the registration process.
If convicted, the two face up to five years in prison. The fraudulent applications were submitted in February and March of 2023, showing clear signs of fraud. Investigators noted identical formatting on the envelopes, matching dates of birth, addresses, and Social Security numbers. They also submitted change of address forms to the U.S. Postal Service to reroute mail from the fake applications to addresses they controlled in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Fort Myers.
The Pinellas County Elections Office discovered that none of the applicants had valid Florida driver’s licenses or state-issued IDs. The office then issued rejection letters to the fraudulent applications. “Our office takes all forms of voter fraud very seriously and reports any evidence to the proper authorities,” said Ashley McKnight-Taylor, a spokesperson for the elections office.
After the elections office informed the Florida Department of State Office of Election Crime and Security, federal agencies including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FBI, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement took over the investigation. The forensic lab discovered fingerprints linking Jamilov to the fraud, leading to searches of both men’s accounts. Investigators found hundreds of photos of driver’s licenses in other individuals’ names, some of which matched the 132 fraudulent registrations.
Further investigation revealed the two men had created financial accounts under fake identities, used to set up “straw companies” for illegal payments. Shushlebin also used an alias to enter the United States with a fraudulent passport.
