Thread: Feds accuse Riverside man of running $5 million immigration

Feds accuse Riverside man of running $5 million immigration scheme
10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, July 31, 2008
By SONJA BJELLAND and DAVID OLSON
The Press-Enterprise

Federal agents have arrested a Riverside man who they say made $5 million by charging illegal immigrants for fraudulent work visas and employment records.

Alexander Sales Vista, arrested Wednesday, is accused of filing almost 1,000 fraudulent documents with the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents. The scheme involved false businesses, fake pay stubs and forged documents for 555 applicants.

The case is larger and more elaborate than any the U.S. attorney's office has had for some time, spokesman Thom Mrozek said. "It's been a few years since we've seen one dealing with work visas to this level," he said.

The case involves highly prized H1B visas, which allow people to work in certain occupations requiring the equivalent of a college degree. Applications are often double the number of available visas, which is capped at 65,000 per year except for certain employers, according to the ICE Web site.

Many of the applicants, who face deportation, were in the United States on tourist visas and worked professionally in their home countries. Clients often came from the Middle East or the Philippines.

Vista is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles today on charges of visa fraud. He faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

On Wednesday, federal agents searched his office in a Magnolia Avenue strip mall. On Thursday, the office was closed with a gate inside the door.

How It Worked

The 102-page complaint filed in federal court included details on the operation and how it was discovered.

Since 1996, court documents say, Vista has created fake companies to give each applicant a job that could be listed on immigration forms.

Each client paid $7,000 to $12,000 for the documents.

Immigration attorneys typically charge $4,500 to $7,000 to process work visas, said Karan Kler, an immigration lawyer and executive director of Coachella Valley Immigration Service and Assistance, a nonprofit agency in Palm Springs.

After immigrants received the visas, Vista would claim that they worked for one of his false companies and would require them to pay payroll taxes, with payments ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars every two weeks, the documents stated. Sometimes Vista would pay the money to the government as payroll tax, but sometimes he would keep it, according to court documents. In return, the clients would receive a pay stub showing they worked for one of Vista's companies.

If clients questioned paying the taxes, Vista would tell them they might have to show the pay stubs if questioned by immigration authorities, the documents state.

Of the 977 petitions filed by Vista, 183 were approved, 98 were rejected, 370 were denied for fraud and 326 were abandoned, withdrawn or otherwise not granted, according to court documents.

The investigation started in 2005 when the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services notified ICE about the fraudulent applications. A year later, a cousin of Vista's who worked for him gave authorities a computer disk and payroll records.

Clients assisted investigators by speaking to Vista with audio and video recording devices.

High Demand for Visas

Rosa Elena Sahagun, an immigration attorney in Riverside, said the demand for work visas vastly outstrips the supply. New visa spots are opened periodically and attorneys rush to send out applications, she said.

"On the day they're available, there are truckloads of UPS vans filled with them," she said.

Adam Zeitz, assistant special agent in charge for investigations for ICE's Los Angeles-area office, said visa fraud creates a national-security risk.

"When people use fraudulent information to apply for visas, that creates vulnerability," he said. "We don't know who those people really are or what their motives are for coming to this country."

Zeitz said the government is still investigating which applicants knew they were dealing with an allegedly fraudulent employer, and, if they did, whether they knew from the beginning.

He said the decision whether to deport applicants would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stor ... edb3e.html

Zeitz said the government is still investigating which applicants knew they were dealing with an allegedly fraudulent employer, and, if they did, whether they knew from the beginning.

He said the decision whether to deport applicants would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

DO WHAT? THEY ALL KNEW GOVERNMENT

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