It was a day of reckoning for a convicted former Bronx lawyer who admitted guilt in a multi-million greenback immigration fraud, who was uncovered by an I-Workforce investigation.
“He destroyed so many American goals,” mentioned Ricardo Velasquez Jr., who gave a sufferer assertion on behalf of his household on Wednesday.
It got here as convicted and disbarred Bronx immigration lawyer Kofi Anankwaa confronted a federal decide at a sentencing listening to in decrease Manhattan.
A former Bronx immigration lawyer pleaded responsible to federal fraud expenses following a collection of I-Workforce reviews that exposed an alleged rip-off concentrating on weak households. NBC New York’s Sarah Wallace reviews.
The disgraced lawyer had promised he would do the appropriate factor to assist hundreds of immigrants develop into authorized residents. As a substitute he wronged them and raked in tens of millions of {dollars} within the course of, whereas leaving many in limbo.
In Sept. 2024, Anankwaa pleaded responsible to fraud after a prolonged I-Workforce investigation exposing an advanced scheme the place he took in tens of millions of {dollars} from immigrants attempting to get authorized standing.
Longtime restaurant prepare dinner Ricardo Velazquez Sr. was deported to his native Mexico after he and his household, together with 4 U.S. citizen kids, returned to New York Metropolis from a visit south of the border to go to family members. Amankwaa promised he may get authorized standing for the mother and father, encouraging them to journey and get a passport stamp on return that he claimed would expedite the method. He charged $3,000 per particular person.
“The plan was to sponsor them-he promised he would file the proper documents,” mentioned Velazquez Jr.
Amankwaa had filed fraudulent paperwork beneath a authorities program known as VAWA, the Violence In opposition to Ladies Act, which was designed to expedite inexperienced playing cards for victims of home violence. In hundreds of circumstances, Anankwaa listed kids or family members as abusers on paperwork — together with Velasquez Jr.
“I was shocked when I found out,” he advised the I-Workforce.
Anankwaa’s VAWA filings made up 47% of all petitions nationwide.
A Bronx immigration lawyer was charged in a widespread federal multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that separated immigrant households — and was first uncovered in Spring 2023 by the I-Workforce’s Sarah Wallace.
Immigration officers ultimately allowed Velazquez Sr. to return to the U.S. and reunite his with household in New York, however hundreds of Amankwaa’s victims stay in authorized jeopardy.
He was sentenced to 70 months in jail, has agreed to forfeit greater than $13 million and supply $16 million in restitution to victims. It’s not but clear how the cash can be distributed.
Anankwaa didn’t reply questions outdoors of federal court docket.
