Posted on 01/17/2008 7:22:59 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
Immigration attorney accused of filing false claims for asylum
A Houston attorney has been indicted on immigration fraud charges for allegedly filing more than 70 false asylum claims for Chinese immigrants by instructing clients to pose as Christians fearing persecution if returned to China.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston on Wednesday announced the charges, which were outlined in a sealed six-count federal indictment filed in August against attorney Shelly Winn, 40, and two assistants, Elizabeth Jones, 50, and Honglian Feng, 49, also known as Diane Feng.
Winn and Feng were arrested in November and were released on bond. The indictment was unsealed this week after Jones — who is also known as Elizabeth Tsai — was arrested in Hong Kong on Jan. 10, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Winn and her assistants filed the asylum claims between April 1999 and February 2004. The law firm provided the clients with written statements about religious persecution and instructed them to copy it in their handwriting, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Undercover operation?
Winn and Jones coached their clients prior to asylum interviews by suggesting they give false statements to make their claim more believable, the statement said. The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Attempts to reach Winn at the Houston offices of S. Winn and Associates, were unsuccessful. Jones and Feng could not be reached for comment.
Winn's defense attorney, Richard Kuniansky, said his client is an honest lawyer who was victimized by a government undercover agent.
''She's a highly ethical attorney, and she's done absolutely nothing whatsoever against the law, or anything unethical," he said. ''An undercover agent went into her office and lied to her. The only thing she's guilty of is not knowing he was a liar."
The defense attorney said Winn took the agent's statement and submitted it as part of an asylum claim.
''An undercover agent meets with her, and claims he's being persecuted in China," Kuniansky said. ''She goes over his statement, he lies and claims all these terrible things happened to him in China. And she files an application on his behalf seeking asylum. That's what immigration lawyers do."
Trial set for Feb. 1 As for the 70 other cases, Kuniansky said Winn's office filed asylum claims ''on behalf of a number of people but there is no evidence that there's anything fraudulent about those."
Winn has been a licensed attorney in Texas since 1992 and is a graduate of the University of Texas law school in Austin.
Longtime immigration lawyer Gordon Quan said he had not heard of Winn nor of the scheme the government alleged the lawyer used to obtain immigration benefits for clients.
Quan said the large number of claims from Winn alleging religious persecution would have raised red flags. ''One attorney filing the same claim over and over would stick out like a sore thumb," Quan said.
The Chinese clients were first charged $6,000 for the asylum process, but once the immigration documents arrived they were kept at Winn's law office until additional fees were paid by clients, the government said.
The three are charged with conspiracy, immigration document fraud and encouraging immigrants to reside in the country knowing they are not legally entitled to do so. Winn and Jones are also charged with two counts of mail fraud.
Trial for the three women is scheduled for Feb 1.
james.pinkerton@chron.com
They are everywhere, Richard!
Ping!
Now that they have her records, it should be simple to round up the clients and ship them back to china.
Next there is the same thing going on in Bristol TN.
Anyone surprised that lawyers commit fraud? LOL
I am just surprised there are none for the Mexican illegals.
Oops, no I am not. Jorge and our Department of Justice have an ongoing and wonderful relationship with our friends south of the border.
Careful FK :-)
TAB
Don’t worry. Worked for you guys about 13 years. They know me. LOL
I might add what I said goes for a lot of different people.
Shades of Julie Marquez in San Antonio? Or that guy down in Corpus who got nailed recently? Or those S.A. city councilmen?
There must be something in the water these S.Texas activist lawyers drink.
ping
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