Four people were arraigned on Saturday in New Jersey for allegedly posing as immigration attorneys and officials to scam immigrants, the justice department said.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, who announced the arrests on Friday, said the group pretended to run a law firm, and staged fake court proceedings, in an elaborate scheme to defraud people seeking legal help for their immigration cases.
According to prosecutors, who charged five people in total, the accused made more than $100,000, with “tens of thousands” of it laundered to other co-conspirators in Colombia.
The scheme led to confusion and devastating consequences for their “dozens” of victims, the Department of Justice said. One person missed actual court hearings because of the deception and was ordered deported by US government officials “in absentia”.