Immigration Fraud—Guilty Plea

A Bethesda, Maryland attorney, along with his law firm, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit immigration fraud in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia.^[1] Irwin Jay Fredman admitted that from April 2001 to May 2005, he and others at his law firm “submitted fraudulent immigration documents to assist aliens in getting ‘green cards’ through an employment-based visa program.”^[2] Through this program, an employer can sponsor an alien for employment in the US if the employer has been unable to find qualified US workers to fill the position.^[3]

More than 100 Applications for Alien Employment Certification and/or Immigrant Petitions for Alien Workers were prepared and submitted to the Department of Labor.^[4] These applications contained material misrepresentations including false assertions that certain sponsoring employers had authorized the firm to file the applications; false statements about purported offers of employment; false statements about the work experience of the alien applicants; and/or forged signatures of sponsoring employers.^[5]

While Mr. Fredman’s firm typically charged US$3,000 to $6,000 for legitimate green card applications, his firm charged as much as $25,000 to file a fraudulent application.^[6]

In pleading guilty, Mr. Fredman has agreed to two sentencing enhancements, to forfeit US$200,000 to the government, to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, and to surrender his law license.^[7] He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 22, 2006.

Mr. Fredman was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy) and 1546(a) (visa fraud). Under section 371, it is a crime for a person to conspire to commit an offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, and do an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. The punishment for a violation of section 371 is a fine, imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both.

Under section 1546(a), it is a crime for a person to knowingly present any application that is required by the immigration laws that contains any false statement. The punishment for a violation of section 1546(a) is a fine, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.

---

[1] ICE, Bethesda Lawyer And Washington, D.C. Law Firm Plead Guilty To Immigration Fraud, Dec. 1, 2005; see also District of Maryland Press Blog, Bethesda Lawyer and Washington, D.C. Law Firm Plead Guilty to Immigration Fraud, US Attorney’s Office, Dec. 1, 2005.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.