Man brought to NY from Canada over fraud charges

newswest9.com
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press
Updated: Jan 25, 2012 6:43 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) - A former operator of a New York-based immigration law firm has been extradited to the United States from Canada to face charges he led a massive immigration fraud ring that processed thousands of false immigration applications, earning millions of dollars in fees, authorities said Wednesday.

Earl Seth David, 47, was brought to New York on Tuesday to face charges including conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, conspiracy to make false statements to immigration authorities and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was arrested in Canada on Oct. 11.

Federal prosecutors said David's firm made millions of dollars by charging high fees to illegal immigrants to fraudulently get them legal immigration status before he fled to Canada in 2006. His law firm closed in 2009.

"When he fled to Canada to avoid prosecution, Earl Seth David left thousands of victims of his alleged fraud in his wake - people who believed he was helping them secure legal status and paid him a lot of money to do so," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

Avi Moskowitz, a lawyer for David, declined to comment. His client was held without bail after an initial court appearance.

Prosecutors said David, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, arranged for his law firm to submit at least 20,000 false immigration applications from 1996 until early 2009.

They said he charged exorbitant fees of up to $30,000 per application to submit false claims that U.S. employers had "sponsored" the illegal immigrants for employment.

Illegal immigrants can petition under U.S. law for legal status if the U.S. Department of Labor has certified that a U.S. employer wishes to employ or "sponsor" them. The immigrant can then use that sponsorship to petition the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to obtain legal status in the United States.

Prosecutors said David's firm fabricated documents, including fake pay stubs, fake tax returns and fake "experience letters," to show that the sponsorships were real.

They said the sponsors had no intention of hiring the illegal immigrants, and the sponsor companies often did not exist other than as shell companies for use in the fraudulent scheme.

Man brought to NY from Canada over fraud charges - KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com |

Canada extradites phoney rabbi accused in ‘massive immigration fraud mill’

Adrian Humphreys Jan 25, 2012 – 7:28 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 25, 2012 8:00 PM ET

A former New York lawyer who was posing as an orthodox rabbi in Toronto has been extradited to the United States, where he is accused of perpetrating a massive immigration fraud, raking in millions of dollars by processing up to 25,000 falsified immigration applications.

Earl Seth David, also known as Rabbi Avraham David, is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, and fled to Canada when authorities uncovered what prosecutors called “a massive immigration fraud mill.”

But to many in the Jewish community around Toronto, he was known as a Torah scholar and author of Code of the Heart, a 2005 book claiming to decode the Torah, the Hebrew Bible.

His book uses numerology and other techniques to find hidden meaning that influence and foreshadow world events, including the war in Iraq, the 9/11 terror attacks and even the rape allegations against basketball star Kobe Bryant.

The book’s promotional materials said the world would be hearing a lot more from Rabbi Avraham David. On Wednesday, it did.

“When he fled to Canada to avoid prosecution, Earl Seth David left thousands of victims of his alleged fraud in his wake — people who believed he was helping them secure legal status and paid him a lot of money to do so,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

“Thanks to the co-operative efforts of our law enforcement partners here and in Canada, he was apprehended and extradited back to the United States, where he will now face justice.”

Mr. David, 47, was arrested in Toronto in October.

Starting about 1996, Mr. David ran a law office in New York. His specialty, prosecutors say, was filing fraudulent documents on behalf of immigrants to the United States portraying them as being wanted for employment by a U.S. company or otherwise sponsored to stay in the country.

His firm provided pay stubs, employer tax return information, letters of reference from prior employers and written offers of employment. The vast majority of the documents provided to the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services were falsified, authorities allege, who said the immigrants typically paid $30,000 each for the material.

Even after the New York bar suspended Mr. David, he continued with his scheme, authorities alleged, forwarding at least 25,000 immigration applications.

After his suspension he stopped putting his name on the documents, according to the indictment filed in U.S. court.

In 2006, when authorities applied for search warrants of his offices, he fled to Canada but continued to draw funds from his law firms through circuitous routes until 2009, the indictment says.

The payments were sometimes channelled through accounts held in the name of his book, prosecutors alleged, and the scheme required dozens of others willing to falsely present themselves as representatives of sponsor companies.

The sponsors, however, had no intention of hiring the aliens and often didn’t even exist other than as shell companies for the scheme, authorities said. Among the alleged conspirators was a corrupt Department of Labor employee who helped ensure official certificates were granted.

U.S. authorities granted legal status to thousands of aliens who, it is alleged, otherwise would not have been qualified for status. The government traced at least 25,000 immigration applications submitted by Mr. David’s law firms and found “the vast majority” to contain “false, fraudulent, and fictitious information.”

Mr. David is charged with conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, conspiracy to make false statements to immigration authorities, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Approved for extradition, Mr. David arrived in New York on Tuesday and arraigned in federal court. Mr. David pleaded not guilty. He and 11 other co-accused are scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

National Post
• Email: ahumphreys@nationalpost.com

Avraham David extradited to U.S., accused in multi-million dollar immigration fraud | News | National Post

I.C.E. News Release

January 26, 2012
New York, NY

Head of New York law firm extradited for immigration fraud

NEW YORK – The alleged ringleader of a massive immigration fraud mill was extradited from Canada to face charges in Manhattan Federal Court. This extradition stems from an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG).

Earl Seth David, aka Rabbi Avrahom David, allegedly operated a massive immigration fraud mill – through a Manhattan-based law practice – in which David and his co-conspirators applied for legal status for tens of thousands of illegal aliens based on phony claims that U.S. employers had "sponsored" those aliens for employment in the United States.

David and the other participants in the scheme took in millions of dollars in illicit proceeds from the illegal aliens who utilized their services. David, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, was arrested in Canada on Oct. 11, 2011, when the indictment against him was unsealed. David faces charges of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, conspiracy to make false statements to immigration authorities, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to court documents, from 1996 until early 2009, Earl Seth David, 47, operated a Manhattan-based immigration law firm (the David Firm) that took in millions of dollars through a long-running scheme to charge exorbitant fees to the Firm's alien-clients, in return for procuring legal immigration status for them based on false claims that U.S. employers had "sponsored" the aliens for employment.

United States law permits an alien to petition for legal status if the alien has obtained a certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) certifying that a U.S. employer wishes to employ, or "sponsor" the alien. An alien who obtains DOL certification can then use it to petition the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to obtain legal status in the United States. As alleged in the indictment, in return for fees of up to $30,000 per alien-client, the David Firm applied for, and obtained, thousands of DOL certifications based on false employment sponsorships and fabricated documents, including fake pay stubs, fake tax returns, and fake "experience letters," purporting to show that the sponsorships were real, and that the aliens possessed special employment skill sets justifying labor-based certification by DOL. In reality, the sponsors had no intention of hiring the aliens, and the sponsor companies often did not even exist other than as shell companies for use in the fraudulent scheme. As a result of the fraud, DOL issued thousands of certifications, and immigration authorities granted legal status to thousands of the David Firm's clients, when such adjustments were unwarranted and otherwise would not have been made. To date, the government has identified at least 25,000 immigration applications submitted by the David Firm – the vast majority of which have been determined to contain false, fraudulent, and fictitious information.

In furtherance of the scheme, David and his employees recruited many people to participate, including dozens of individuals who, in exchange for payment, agreed to falsely represent to DOL that they were sponsoring aliens for employment; corrupt accountants who created fake tax returns for the fictitious sponsor companies; and a corrupt DOL employee who helped ensure that DOL certifications were granted based upon the fraudulent applications.

David continued to operate the scheme, from behind-the scenes, even after he was suspended from the practice of law in New York State in March 2004. David fled to Canada in 2006 after learning that his firm was under federal criminal investigation. Nevertheless, illicit profits from the scheme continued to be funneled to him in Canada, including through a bank account in the name of a biblical treatise he had authored entitled "Code of the Heart." The David Firm ceased operations in early 2009, when federal search warrants were executed at several locations associated with the firm.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423 or complete our tip form.

U.S. Dept of Homeland Security

Head of New York law firm extradited for immigration fraud