http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12548650.htm

Posted on Sun, Sep. 04, 2005


HAITIAN IMMIGRATION SCANDAL
Indicted charity trying to revive
As a federal criminal investigation continues, a Haitian-oriented charity facing fraud charges intends to resume operations right away.
BY DAN CHRISTENSEN AND DARRAN SIMON
dchristensen@herald.com

A Haitian-American charity under federal indictment for defrauding thousands of illegal immigrants plans to reopen Tuesday in Broward amid questions about its political ties to Republican activists.

Six weeks ago, a federal grand jury charged the Haitian-American Community Help Organization with swindling at least $3 million from immigrants. The undocumented aliens paid HACHO $450 each for work permits it couldn't provide and failed to deliver, according to the indictments.

During the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, HACHO used a political pitch to lure victims to Florida from around the country, two sources told The Herald.

Brooklyn, N.Y., immigration lawyer Joseph Famuyide said dozens of clients told him they'd heard that HACHO had access to a special aliens work permit program created by Gov. Jeb Bush in an effort to win votes for his brother, President George Bush, among Florida's sought-after immigrant voters. ''I was asking people over and over, why Florida?'' recalled Famuyide. ``The people at HACHO were floating that argument just to convince people . . . People were traveling to Florida from all over the country.''

The group's use of that political pitch was also confirmed by Lucy Orlando, a former HACHO executive officer.

There was no such special work permit program in Florida, however. Congress makes laws regarding immigration, not the states or governors.

''No group has ever been promised or received any preferential treatment,'' said Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for Gov. Bush.

Federal agents and prosecutors declined comment while the investigation continues. But the presence of three Broward Republican activists among HACHO's executive officers, including one with close ties to the governor, has raised questions about HACHO's operation.

65 YEARS IF CONVICTED

HACHO Executive Director Gomez Accime, charged with conspiracy and mail fraud in the alleged advance-fee scam, faces up to 65 years in prison if convicted. He mentioned his political ties in a written statement in which he pointed the finger of guilt at two HACHO employees, one of whom is now dead.

''If I were planning to engage in fraudulent activities, I would never get so involved in the Broward County Republican Party,'' Accime said in the statement sent to The Herald last month by HACHO founder Al Bonnie. Accime declined to be interviewed, Bonnie said.

Accime's Republican political mentor was Weston resident Lucy Orlando, HACHO's ''counseling and community advocate.'' Orlando is also president of the Broward-based Haitian-American Republican Caucus.

Orlando, 61, a retired nurse, is a vocal, highly visible Haitian-American activist with strong political ties to Gov. Bush. She's given generously to both the state and national Republican parties. She held a Bush-Cheney fundraiser at her Weston home in May 2004, and said President Bush called to say thanks while it was going on.

According to Orlando, she worked at HACHO from time to time in 2004 without pay to help immigrants obtain needed social services. But at the same time, she and Accime were involved together in a number of political events.

WHITE HOUSE VISIT

In February 2004, Orlando said, she and Accime were part of a delegation that went to the White House to oppose then-Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide was deposed later that month.

Orlando said she and Accime also attended together the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Miami Beach in April 2004 and the Republican National Convention in New York City that August. A photo of Orlando, peppered with ''Bush for President'' buttons, ran in newspapers across the country, including The Herald.

HACHO, based in a Lauderdale Lakes strip mall, would seem far removed from such high-powered political gatherings. The federally tax-exempt organization's fliers describe HACHO as a ''Haitian oriented social agency'' offering services to immigrants, including job training, financial assistance and ``voter registration education.''

The nature and extent of those services, and how HACHO paid for them, is unclear. While HACHO's flier said the group was engaged in fundraising -- Lauderdale Lakes gave $10,000 in 2003 -- HACHO representatives would not release the group's federal income tax returns.

AN OFFICIAL CHARITY

HACHO was designated a 501(c)(3) charity by the IRS in 2001. By law, federal charities with over $25,000 in annual gross receipts are required to make their tax returns available for public inspection.

HACHO appears to fit that criteria. Accime, in his statement blaming others, has acknowledged that HACHO lost about $2 million.

A sign on HACHO's door, at 4693 N. State Road 7, informs the curious that HACHO will reopen on Tuesday. Accime will still be in charge.

''Gomez will be there,'' said Bonnie, of Fort Lauderdale. ``He's still the executive director. He has done nothing wrong.''

Accime's Fort Lauderdale lawyer, Sebastian Cotrone, echoed that assessment.

''My guy says he didn't do anything wrong,'' Cotrone said.

HACHO's political ties extended to Democrats. HACHO's letterhead boasts a board of advisors that includes Broward Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Carlton Moore and two aides to U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar.

But Eggelletion and Moore said last week they didn't know they were on HACHO's board and never gave permission for their names to be used. Hastings' office provided reporters with a copy of a letter that one of the aides wrote to Accime more than a year ago instructing him to remove their names from HACHO's letterhead.

ORLANDO OUT NOW

Orlando was listed on HACHO stationery last year as both a board advisor and an executive officer of HACHO. She said, however, that her name was used without her permission and that while she did do volunteer work for HACHO she never held those posts.

Orlando said she split with Accime last October after news broke that two New York agencies, including the Office of Citizenship Services in Gov. George Pataki's office, were investigating HACHO for possible fraud. At the time, Orlando said, she and her husband, Serge, were volunteering at HACHO.

Orlando said that because of her affiliation with HACHO, she became an object of suspicion by some in the Haitian community. Some of those suspicions were voiced on Haitian radio, she said.

Orlando has not been charged with any crime.

''I heard people say I got $5 million from Gomez [Accime],'' she said last week. ``But nobody ever asked me. If they asked me, I'd tell them.''

Orlando also said she told Gov. Bush's office about the political pitch HACHO used to attract immigrants willing to pay $450 for a work permit.

The governor's spokesman, Schweiss, said Orlando contacted the governor's office sometime after news of the investigation became public last year. He said she ``was informed that we cannot provide assistance in matters of a criminal investigation.''

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, another Republican activist on HACHO's board, said Orlando told him months ago Accime was involved in fraud. Dozier, pastor of Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, also said Accime claimed that Orlando was ``trying to slander my name and trying to put the feds and Gov. Jeb Bush on me.''

CHURCH DONATIONS

Dozier, president of the Jerome E. Gray Republican Club and a 2001 Bush appointee to Broward's Judicial Nominating Commission, said he became associated with HACHO because Accime attends his church. 'He comes faithfully and I looked up one day and he came to me and said, `Oh, we added you to our board.' I said OK,'' said Dozier. `We gave them a donation a few times . . . I'm really not involved with HACHO.''

According to the July indictment, HACHO filed more than 10,000 fraudulent immigration forms between April 2003 and last June.

One undocumented immigrant from New Jersey who traveled to Florida in October 2004 to get a work permit at HACHO said she waited in line two days before an HACHO employee took her money, filled out a form, and told her to sign it. The woman, a native of Dominica who declined to be identified, said she later found out HACHO listed her as a refugee.

Sidney Charles, a Miami businessman and former Bush-Cheney campaign official who served as chairman of Haitians for Bush, attended several meetings at HACHO last year after meeting Accime at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. He said that since the indictment he has become concerned that HACHO may have misused the GOP and might embarrass it.

One reason for concern was what Charles said was Accime's offer -- rejected -- to set up a Bush reelection operation last year at HACHO's offices.

''I told him I didn't think that was legal,'' said Charles. Federally tax-exempt charities are not allowed to engage in partisan political activity.

Charles, too, said he was ''very concerned'' by continuing ''rumors'' in the Haitian community and on Haitian radio about Orlando's alleged ability to use her Republican connections ''to make things happen'' at HACHO.

Orlando, though, doesn't seem worried about the fraud allegations or the rumors that she was pulling strings in the background. ''I got nothing to do with that,'' Orlando said. ``People are very wicked.''