Two operators of several staffing firms in Key West, Florida, were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay nearly $8.5 million for tax- and immigration-related crimes, the US Attorney’s Office announced on Monday. 

Eka Samadashvili was sentenced to 36 months in prison for “conspiring to harbor aliens and induce them to remain in the US,” as well as for conspiring to defraud the US, according to the department. Samadashvili was also ordered to pay nearly $8.5 million in restitution. 

David Pavliashvili was sentenced to 18 months for the same charges in addition to filing a false federal tax return, according to the department. Pavliashvili was ordered to pay $16,925.31 in restitution.

Both individuals helped run staffing firms that arranged for nonresident immigrants to work in hotels, bars and restaurants in Key West and elsewhere, according to the department. The workers were not authorized to work in the US. In addition, the staffing firms did not withhold federal income and Social Security and Medicare taxes from workers’ wages and did not report the wages to the IRS. 

Firms operated by Samadashvili and Pavliashvili included Pseb Services JD Inc., Paradise Hospitality Solutions LLC, Paradise Hospitality Group LLC, Paradise Hospitality Inc. and HBSM Corp.