New York Paralegal Blog

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal judge has shut down an operation that allegedly posed as the U.S. government, then duped consumers into paying fees ranging from $200 to $2,500 by claiming the fees would cover processing by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The court froze the defendants’ assets and appointed a receiver to take over the business until the case is resolved. The FTC has asked the court to halt the business practices permanently and order the operation to repay its victims. The real U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, offers advice and counseling to immigrants in the United States and people seeking to immigrate to the United States. USCIS provides application forms for such benefits as green card renewal, work visas, and applications for asylum. The application forms are free but can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to process.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced today the indictment of TERESA NORA MARTINEZ for stealing $12,000 from immigrants, both by falsely claiming to be an attorney and by falsely claiming to be working with attorneys, purporting to provide immigration legal services and promising to obtain green cards. MARTINEZ, 39, has been indicted on charges of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Petit Larceny, and Practicing or Appearing as Attorney-at-Law Without Being Admitted and Registered.[1] The District Attorney's Office launched an investigation into the defendant's criminal activity when victims contacted the Office through the Immigrant Affairs Program.

NEW YORK, NY (August 20, 2009) Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his Office has shut down three New York companies providing unauthorized and fraudulent legal services to immigrant communities, in the latest stages of his ongoing investigation into immigration fraud. Under the terms of the agreements secured by Cuomo’s Office, Immigration Solutions and Systems, Inc. of New York, Alisandra Multiservices, Inc. of Brentwood, Long Island, and All Immigration Services of Great Neck, Long Island are permanently barred from operating a business that provides immigration-related services and must collectively pay approximately $118,000 in penalties. Cuomo also announced separate lawsuits filed today in New York State Supreme Court against three additional companies providing legal services to immigrants which they were neither authorized nor accredited to provide. According to the lawsuits filed today in New York State Supreme Court, Immigration Community Service Corporat...