Kooritzky convicted of LCA fraud
Kooritzky convicted of LCA fraud
Date: Thursday, December 12, 2002 12:48 PM
H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
www.ZaZona.com
Kooritzky made tens of millions of dollars by filing fraudulent LCAs. He
used the phony labor certifications to enable aliens to get visas.
Fortunately he got caught.
An earlier newsletter is attached that contains information when this story
broke in the Washington Post. I don't know if Tom Jackman used the LCA
database at www.ZaZona.com/LCA-Data to look up those restaurants so I will
include him on this newsletter.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty called the case one of the largest labor
certification frauds ever prosecuted and said it was "an important victory
in our effort to restore integrity to our immigration system."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43070-2002Dec11.html
Law Firm's Owner Convicted of Bilking Illegal Immigrants
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 12, 2002; Page B01
The head of a renowned immigration law firm was convicted yesterday on all
57 counts of a federal indictment accusing him of a massive fraud scheme in
which illegal immigrants paid thousands of dollars to seek permission to
work in the United States, unaware that their applications were filled with
false information and phony signatures.
Samuel G. Kooritzky, 64, was led from the courtroom in handcuffs after the
verdict, which followed five hours of deliberation and a week-long trial in
U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He faces a probable prison sentence of
eight to 10 years on charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering and
could also forfeit as much as $2.5 million that authorities believe was part
of the proceeds of his scheme.
Kooritzky owns the Capital Law Centers, with offices in Arlington, Takoma
Park and Washington. The firm specialized in applying to state governments
for labor certifications, in which a business claims it cannot find a U.S.
citizen for a particular job. An immigrant then uses the certification to
apply for a permanent resident visa, or "green card."
But Kooritzky's firm submitted thousands of applications for labor
certifications without telling the businesses they were being used.
Kooritzky filed 230 applications on behalf of two Chili's restaurants in
Northern Virginia, 184 applications for one Silver Diner in Arlington, and
173 applications for one Shoney's restaurant in Manassas, ostensibly for
cooks and kitchen workers. None of the restaurants had heard of Kooritzky or
authorized him to apply for labor certifications on their behalf, their
officials testified.
Kooritzky testified that he did not know that his employees and contract
workers were preparing phony documents on behalf of his clients.
Kooritzky's own handwritten internal memos and self-adhesive notes were used
against him at the trial. In one note, Kooritzky wrote to a colleague,
"Please tell me which are real clients and which are 'fake.' " Kooritzky
explained that his office used the word "fake" to describe clients who
probably wouldn't last through the application process, not to indicate a
phony application.
Kooritzky also testified that he knew Chili's had "hundreds of cooks" and
that rather than apply through the dozens of different Chili's restaurants,
"we simply designated them all from the one location."
Kooritzky said he believed that the restaurants had authorized the
applications because one of his employees, Ronald W. Bogardus, told him they
had. Bogardus's job at Kooritzky's firm was to find sponsors -- businesses
that needed immigrant workers.
For years, Kooritzky said, immigrants came to his office without a job
sponsor and he had to turn them away. In the fall of 2000, he met Bogardus,
a State Department contract employee, "and it was like a miracle. Exactly
the kind of person I was looking for to do that kind of work," Kooritzky
said.
Kooritzky schooled Bogardus in the labor and immigration process, and
Bogardus went in search of sponsors. But Bogardus testified that he soon
found it was easier to simply go to a restaurant, learn the manager's name
and then sign the forms himself. For documentation, he and a woman swiped
company logos off the Internet and placed them atop phony letters, Bogardus
said.
Bogardus or other employees would then sign the restaurant managers' names.
He said Kooritzky "told me they could be signed by anybody, and I took him
at his word." Bogardus said he did not tell Kooritzky that he was forging
signatures. But even after businesses began calling Kooritzky and asking why
they were receiving labor certifications for people they had never heard of,
Kooritzky did not ask Bogardus about the situation or tell him to stop,
Bogardus said.
Andrew Shea, a Labor Department special agent, said in a court filing that
Kooritzky filed 2,200 phony labor applications last year alone. Immigrants
paid $8,000 to $20,000 for the effort, even though most never got the green
card. None of the applicants knew they were being submitted for nonexistent
jobs. Nick Pompei, an Internal Revenue Service agent, estimated that
Kooritzky's firm reaped more than $10 million from the scheme in the past
two years.
Bogardus, 65, and Kooritzky were arrested in July. Bogardus soon pleaded
guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He also forfeited $4
million and agreed to testify in hopes of receiving a sentence reduction.
Two other Kooritzky employees, Inderjeet Kaur and Carolina Trana, also
pleaded guilty and testified, but they have not been sentenced.
Testimony and Kooritzky's internal documents revealed that he paid some
businesses as much as $5,000 to sponsor an immigrant.
Kooritzky also argued that filing multiple applications for one person was
fine -- a process he said ensured that the applicant would be approved
somewhere but that prosecutors said enabled him to maximize his profits by
"substituting" other immigrants.
"This is all about buying and selling substitution cases for as much as you
can get, isn't it?" Assistant U.S. Attorney John Morton asked Kooritzky.
"Nothing wrong with that," Kooritzky replied.
Brian Shaughnessy, one of Kooritzky's attorneys, argued that "nobody ever
brought a forgery to Mr. Kooritzky's attention." Shaughnessy said he would
appeal but declined to make further comment.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty called the case one of the largest labor
certification frauds ever prosecuted and said it was "an important victory
in our effort to restore integrity to our immigration system."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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