A Bronx lawyer and his son have been arrested on Monday and charged with orchestrating a seven-year immigration scheme that defrauded lots of of immigrants and brought on a few of them to be deported, federal prosecutors mentioned.
The lawyer, Kofi Amankwaa, 69, and his son, Kofi Amankwaa Jr., 37, suggested shoppers in search of inexperienced playing cards to signal petitions below the Violence In opposition to Girls Act, which permits undocumented immigrants who’re victims of abuse to achieve lawful everlasting residence in the USA, prosecutors mentioned.
The petitions falsely claimed that the shoppers have been being abused by their youngsters, who have been Americans. The abuse claims have been then used as motive for requesting permission for the shoppers to journey overseas, which, when granted, was used to assist them apply for inexperienced playing cards, in keeping with a grievance filed by the U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York, who introduced the fees.
The Amankwaas both knew the shoppers had not been abused or by no means requested whether or not they had been, the U.S. legal professional, Damian Williams, mentioned in a information launch. The functions for authorized residency have been usually discovered to be fraudulent and denied, and a few of the Amankwaas’ shoppers have been deported. Their companies value as a lot as $6,000, plus administrative charges, the grievance mentioned.
Every of the 2 males was charged with one rely of conspiracy to defraud the USA and one rely of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. They have been anticipated to be arraigned on Monday, and so they face a most of 10 years in jail. The boys “sought to make a mockery of the U.S. immigration system,” mentioned Mr. Williams, whose workplace performed the investigation with the Division of Homeland Safety.
Along with the fees, the New York legal professional normal, Letitia James, sued the Amankwaas and three different members of their observe, Sylvester Boateng, Nana Adoma Kontoh and Betty Smith, for his or her roles within the immigration fraud, in keeping with a information launch from Ms. James’s workplace. Ms. Kontoh, in keeping with the discharge, had falsely advised shoppers she was a lawyer.
“Individuals who immigrate to America are sometimes weak and easily attempting to construct higher lives for themselves and their family members,” Ms. James mentioned within the launch. “When these immigrants sought assist from attorneys claiming to behave of their finest pursuits, they have been taken benefit of and harmed as a substitute.”
Ms. James is in search of full restitution and an unspecified quantity in damages to be paid to the affected shoppers, along with civil penalties.
The case was the newest in a sequence of fraud schemes which have taken benefit of these in search of lawful citizenship in New York. On Jan. 11, the Manhattan legal professional normal, Alvin L. Bragg, introduced a number of expenses towards Pablo Israel Ortega Cuenca for posing as an immigration lawyer and gathering hundreds of {dollars} in authorized charges.
Mr. Amankwaa had been licensed to observe regulation in New York since 1996, however his license was suspended in November after a state Legal professional Grievance Committee, which handles reviews of lawyer misconduct, obtained 9 complaints from shoppers or their relations between October 2022 and Might 2023, in keeping with committee information. The youthful Mr. Amankwaa offered authorized recommendation to the shoppers regardless that he was not licensed to observe regulation in New York, prosecutors mentioned.
One in every of Mr. Amankwaa’s shoppers, Ricardo Velazquez, a father of 4 dwelling within the Bronx, had been in the USA for greater than 20 years. Mr. Amankwaa filed paperwork claiming that Mr. Velazquez had been abused by his son and suggested Mr. Velazquez to go away the nation and re-enter with a view to proceed his inexperienced card utility. When Mr. Velazquez tried to return from Mexico, he was detained and ultimately deported.
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration regulation at Cornell Regulation College, mentioned he had by no means heard of somebody utilizing the Violence In opposition to Girls Act to conduct immigration fraud. However such fraud could be laborious to root out, he added, as a result of victims usually don’t acknowledge it or determine to not report it.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it in all probability is,” he mentioned. “If somebody says ‘I can assure you a inexperienced card in the event you simply signal right here,’ that’s a positive signal that one thing is humorous.”
Catalina Cruz, a state assemblywoman who was as soon as undocumented, described the Amankwaas’ actions as “unethical and unconscionable.”
“These households merely needed the American dream and trusted Mr. Amankwaa as their lawyer,” she mentioned. “As a substitute, he dedicated probably the most wicked of violations and his actions led to pressured separation from their households.”
