Lynn Devin
American adoption agency operator who ran Seattle International Adoptions with her sister Lauryn Galindo and pleaded guilty in 2003 to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and money laundering over Cambodian adoptions.
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- Country
- United States
- Role
- Operated the U.S.-based agency Seattle International Adoptions, which screened and processed American families adopting through her sister Lauryn Galindo's Cambodia-based operation
- Family
- Sister of Lauryn Galindo
- Legal outcome
- Pleaded guilty on December 10, 2003 to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering
- Forfeiture
- Agreed to forfeit property and a sum reported by The Phnom Penh Post as exceeding $100,000
- Cases covered by the charges
- Ten identified cases occurring between January 1997 and December 2001, per The Phnom Penh Post
Overview
Lynn Devin is an American former adoption agency operator who ran Seattle International Adoptions, the U.S.-based agency through which her sister, Lauryn Galindo, placed roughly 700 to 800 Cambodian children with American families between 1997 and 2001. The two sisters’ operation is documented in detail in FactsLedger’s Cambodian adoption scandal profile; Devin pleaded guilty in December 2003 to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Role at Seattle International Adoptions
While Galindo worked in Cambodia arranging placements and gathering paperwork, Devin ran the U.S. side of the operation. The Cambodia Daily’s 2002 profile of Galindo described Devin as running “the U.S.-based Seattle International Adoptions agency” that handled American families’ applications (The Cambodia Daily). Vice’s later reporting states that the two sisters together made millions of dollars facilitating the roughly 800 adoptions (Vice).
Documented conduct and the scale of the charges
The Phnom Penh Post reported that Devin’s charges covered ten identified cases occurring between January 1997 and December 2001 — the period during which U.S. adoptions from Cambodia were eventually suspended. According to court documents cited by the paper, Devin and Galindo “faked documents to falsely pass off the adopted children as orphans and created fictitious identities for the children” to speed up adoptions and increase profits. In one case detailed by the paper, Devin told American adoptive parents that a child was an orphan even though she knew the child’s biological mother was alive; when the parents questioned this, she told them it “would be best” to proceed with the adoption anyway (The Phnom Penh Post).
Guilty plea and forfeiture
Devin pleaded guilty on December 10, 2003, to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering — several months before her sister’s January 2004 arrest and June 2004 guilty plea (U.S. Department of Justice). As part of her plea, she agreed to forfeit property connected to the scheme along with a sum The Phnom Penh Post reported as exceeding $100,000. The Phnom Penh Post reported her sentencing was then scheduled for March 12, 2004, but The Spokesman-Review, reporting on Galindo’s November 19, 2004 sentencing, noted that Devin “previously pleaded guilty to related charges and will be sentenced next month” — indicating the date had been pushed back by many months (The Spokesman-Review). This profile could not independently confirm what sentence Devin ultimately received; see the open items above.
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not state Devin’s final sentence. Other accounts, including FactsLedger’s main Cambodian adoption scandal profile, describe a sentence of six months of home detention and a $30,000 fine, but this profile’s own independent re-reading of the two sources cited for that figure did not find it stated in their text, so it is not repeated here as confirmed; only her guilty plea, the specific charges, and her forfeiture obligation are stated as fact. This profile does not claim Devin traveled to Cambodia or dealt directly with birth families — the sources read here describe her role as based in the United States, processing paperwork and screening adoptive families. It does not describe her life or activities after 2004, since no independent reporting on that period was found.
Timeline
- 1990s-2001
- Devin operates Seattle International Adoptions, the U.S. agency through which American families adopted children placed by her sister Lauryn Galindo's Cambodia-based operation.
- 2003-12-10
- Devin pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, ahead of her sister's 2004 arrest and plea.
- 2004
- Devin agrees to forfeit property and a sum The Phnom Penh Post reported as exceeding $100,000; her sentencing, at first expected in early 2004, is rescheduled at least once, and this profile could not independently confirm the final sentencing date or terms.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- This profile could not independently confirm the exact terms of Devin's final sentence. FactsLedger's main Cambodian adoption scandal profile states, citing The Spokesman-Review and Vice, that she received six months of home detention and a $30,000 fine. On independently re-fetching and re-reading both of those sources for this profile, neither was found to state Devin's specific sentence terms in the text retrieved: The Spokesman-Review's November 21, 2004 article states only that she "previously pleaded guilty to related charges and will be sentenced next month," and Vice's article describes the sisters' joint conduct and Galindo's sentence but does not separately state a sentence for Devin. This discrepancy is flagged here rather than silently resolved in either direction; this profile states only what is independently confirmed — her guilty plea, the specific charges, and a forfeiture obligation exceeding $100,000 plus property, per The Phnom Penh Post.
- The Phnom Penh Post reported Devin's sentencing as scheduled for March 12, 2004, but The Spokesman-Review's November 21, 2004 report indicates it had not yet occurred by that date and was expected "next month," meaning it was rescheduled at least once. This profile does not state a final sentencing date.
- No independent reporting on Devin's activities after 2004 was located in the sources read for this profile.
Sources
5 sources (4 tier 1, 1 tier 2), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
This profile rests on the U.S. Department of Justice's June 2004 press release, The Phnom Penh Post's contemporaneous reporting (both already used in FactsLedger's main Cambodian adoption scandal profile and independently re-read for this one), The Cambodia Daily's 2002 reporting, The Spokesman-Review's November 2004 reporting on the case, and Vice's later reporting. Wikipedia's "Cambodian adoption scandal" article was not used as a source. The Seattle Times published an article titled "Sentence ends adoption-fraud case" that, by its headline, appears to report Devin's final sentence, but its page could not be retrieved with readable article text despite repeated attempts, so its content is not relied on here; see the open items below for what this means for the sentence figures reported elsewhere.
- #434: Hawaii Resident Pleads Guilty in Cambodian Adoption Conspiracy Supports: The date of Devin's guilty plea, the specific charges, and confirmation that she agreed to forfeit illegal profits from Seattle International Adoptions.
- US adoption agent guilty of visa fraud Supports: The number of cases covered by Devin's charges, her forfeiture obligation, a documented example of her telling adoptive parents a child was an orphan despite knowing the birth mother was alive, and the scheduled (later changed) sentencing date.
- Is Lauryn Galindo a Baby-Buyer, a Benefactor, or Both? Supports: Confirmation that Devin, Galindo's sister, ran Seattle International Adoptions.
- Woman gets 18 months in adoption conspiracy Supports: Confirmation that, as of November 21, 2004, Devin had pleaded guilty and was still awaiting sentencing.
- These Adoptees Were Brought to the US as Babies. Now Some Fear They Were Stolen. Supports: Confirmation that Devin and Galindo together placed roughly 800 Cambodian children with American families between 1997 and 2001.
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