Ramon Bazan, a former Special Agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging him with making false statements in connection with a series of fraudulent visa referrals, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. According to court documents, Bazan, 57, served as the ATF Assistant Country Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico, from 2003 to 2008. During this time, the embassy maintained a visa referral program that helped expedite the processing of non-immigrant visa applications for Mexican nationals and other foreign citizens, whose travel to the United States would advance the national interests of the United States or U.S. diplomacy efforts in Mexico. As the ATF Assistant Country Attaché, Bazan had the authority to make visa referrals through this program.