An immigration attorney was sentenced today in New York to serve between one and three years in prison for having defrauded undocumented immigrants of more than $140,000 dollars when practicing after his license was revoked, informed the Manhattan Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, Carlos Moreno, 61 years old, collected thousands of dollars that he charged undocumented immigrants for his legal services between September of 2017, when had his license suspended, and at the end of September, 2018.
Moreno had his license suspended after an investigation revealed that he defrauded clients by insuring that he could get them a “10 year visa” that would regulate their immigration status for that time. This type of fraud against undocumented immigrants is very common.
Moreno assured its clients that undocumented immigrants who had resided in the US for more than a decade could obtain residency, a fraud known as the “ten-year green card scam,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in the statement.
He further indicated that as a result, some of his clients unknowingly put themselves at risk of being deported from the country.
Moreno pleaded guilty in 2018 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York of a scheme to defraud and practice as a lawyer after having been disqualified from practicing that profession and today he was sentenced.
Between 140 and 2018 Moreno deceived two clients with this fraud scheme, as he admitted when pleading guilty.
In both cases, he submitted an asylum application without the knowledge or consent of the immigrants, despite knowing that they would be rejected and that would result in deportation proceedings being initiated.