Thread: NY-Cuomo accuses woman of defrauding immigrants

Updated: 10:07 p.m.
Cuomo accuses woman of defrauding immigrants
10:07 PM EDT, May 13, 2009
BY ROBERT E. KESSLER | robert.kessler@newsday.com


State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil suit Wednesday against a Jackson Heights woman, claiming she defrauded more than a dozen immigrants on Long Island and in New York City of $82,500 by falsely claiming she could get them permanent resident status in the country.

The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Queens, says that Miriam Mercedes Hernandez, of 35-20 Leverich St., charged people up to $15,000 for obtaining the residency status, which she supposedly could get for them within eight months because of her political and community connections.

Hernandez, who said she ran an immigrant assistance business, never got any of her clients permanent residency, Cuomo said.

"This city owes its history and its heritage to the immigrants who built it," Cuomo said in a statement. "Today's case is a classic example of fraud - lying, cheating and exploiting people trying to permanently make this country their home."

Hernandez's attorney, Jay Sanchez of Jamaica, declined to comment.

The suit asks that Hernandez be barred from operating an immigration advisory business and pay restitution of the $82,500, as well as $14,500 in fines and penalties.

Cuomo said that the case is part of his office's continuing investigation into confidence schemes aimed at immigrants.

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Two wrongs do not make a right. She got off easy in my opinion