US lawyer sold dozens of fake US visas

October 20 2009 by Liam Clifford

US visa fraud case sees a West Covina attorney charged.

Three people have been arrested in connection with selling multiple fake US visas, the attorney and two business associates are also charged with laundering the profits through a process of buying empty burial plots, a US immigration source confirmed today.

All three were taken into custody on Thursday. They have now been charged with visa fraud, their arrests a culmination of a 2 year investigation led by US immigration and customs.

They stand accused of setting up a dozen bogus companies in order to apply for fraudulent employment visas, most of them US H1B visas, which are specifically for skilled foreign workers.

The immigrants named on visa applications however never worked for the fake companies or the defendants. The purchasers of the visas were charged between $6,000 and $50,000, investigators have found at least 100 foreign nationals that had visa applications filed on their behalf.

When authorities raided the offices of the attorney, Kelly Einstein Darwin Giles, they uncovered immigration applications as well as papers for thirty burial plots and twenty blank grave monuments. These were allegedly purchased with the proceeds from the visa scam.

What made the money laundering scheme a shrewd investment was that cemetery plots often appreciate in value at a rate of 10% a year and are far less economically dependent for value.

"It's unique in the sense that we haven't run into this before that an individual seeking to hide proceeds goes out and purchases cemetery plots," said Jorge Guzman, from US immigration and customs. "There are always new ways in which criminals will try and hide money, but this is by far one of the most unique."

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