Virginia Men Charged In Visa Scheme, 2,700 Fake Papers, U.S. Says

Federal agents swarmed into Arlington yesterday and shut down a massive immigration fraud scheme that allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to obtain permission to work in the United States -- and made millions of dollars for an Arlington lawyer and his colleague -- prosecutors said.

In exchange, he took them to a notary public, where he signed a DL 51 form saying that he, a resident of Virginia, knew them to be residents of the state too. They weren't, of course, but he let them use his old address in Falls Church.

Even though Virginia has closed this one loophole, there are still many loopholes in Virginia to obtain a drivers license. Basically, you could just hand them a library card. I posted on here awhile back these documents that are required. Virginia does not require documentation to prove you are legally in this country and your license does not expire when your visa expires if you are here legally. Anybody can open your mailbox and steal a utility bill and present it to DMV. We need to keep an eye on Virginia and put pressure on the DMV and state legislators. We have to make sure they are not going to be accepting this bogus matricula next. It would not surprise me if La Raza is not lobbying Governor Warner to push for acceptance of the sham id. Mexican invaders were issuing these ids in Virginia recently if you had read the article in the Washingtonpost yesterday. Thanks for digging up this interview, I will keep it for ammo when I call state reps. in Virginia.

Jul 30, 2002
Prosecutor: accused immigration lawyer operated elsewhere

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) _ A lawyer accused last week of immigration fraud in Virginia is being investigated for submitting thousands of similar forms in other states, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.
"There are thousands of other applications filed by (Samuel G.) Kooritzky in other states that we are pursuing," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Morton told a U.S. magistrate.
Kooritzky, 63, was arrested at his office in Arlington last week after a Labor Department probe found that he had filed about 2,700 requests for labor certification on behalf of immigrants since last year.
Kooritzky's applications claimed that individual restaurants could not find American workers and needed the immigrants, but the Labor Department said the restaurants did not even know of the applications.
The hearing Tuesday was for Kooritzky's alleged accomplice, Ronald W. Bogardus, 65, a contract engineer for the State Department. During a search of Bogardus's Arlington apartment, agents found a suitcase stuffed with what they believed was $500,000.
But Labor Department Special Agent Andrew H. Shea testified yesterday that the suitcase did not have $500,000. It had $940,000, mostly in tightly wrapped bundles of $100 bills, and $60,000 was elsewhere in the apartment, Shea said. Agents also found that Bogardus had three passports, two train tickets to New York and $2.5 million in a bank account.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Welton Curtis Sewell ordered Bogardus held without bond until trial.
Kooritzky was freed after his arrest once he surrendered his passport.
Kooritzky allegedly charged immigrants at least $8,000 to file the immigration paperwork. The two men, who are each charged with one count of immigration fraud, raked in at least $11 million, and as much as $21 million, over the past 18 months, agents estimated.
In one instance, Kooritzky allegedly filed 184 requests for labor certifications from a Silver Diner restaurant in Arlington for short-order cooks. None of the agencies reviewing the paperwork noticed the sudden demand for foreign workers from one restaurant.

Source

Related thread: Immigration fraud ring shut down

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