Two Lawyers in Legal Trouble in Separate Immigration Fraud Cases
Two lawyers in different states are in the news for submitting false documents in immigration cases.
A Georgia lawyer has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for filing false documents on behalf of her immigration clients.
Sai Hyun Lee of Duluth pleaded guilty in November, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Gwinnett Daily Post. Prosecutors said Lee falsified 17 documents to help her clients obtain legal resident status. As part of her agreement, she will also forfeit $100,000, which represents the attorney fees generated in the fraud scheme, according to a press release (PDF).
Lee was accused of substituting client names on labor certificates approved for different foreign workers. One client paid $25,000 for Lee’s help, the press release says.
Meanwhile a Brooklyn jury has found a New York lawyer guilty of visa fraud, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Lawyer Thomas Archer of Coram, N.Y., and his former assistant were accused of submitting false legalization applications on behalf of more than 230 illegal immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security.
“The defendants charged each client $1,500 to $2,500 for their services, yet not a single application filed by the defendants was granted,” the press release says.
Archer’s trial is one of several stemming from a class action lawsuit that gave undocumented immigrants who came to the country before 1982 and stayed through 1988 a two-year window to apply without prejudice for legal permanent residency, the New York Times City Room blog reports. Archer’s clients were allowed to work, pay taxes and travel abroad while their applications were pending.
Archer was investigated after immigration officials spotted a high number of fraud indicators on the applications he filed for his clients, the blog says.
