When a federal grand jury indicted two attorneys from one of the area’s largest immigration law firms on 33 counts of visa fraud and other charges last month, some feared the allegations would give a black eye to all lawyers. The 28-page indictment unsealed Feb. 28 alleges two lawyers from ASK Law Group in Sherman Oaks Senior Partner Daniel E. Korenberg and Senior Associate Steven James Rodriguez manipulated the visa process and filed thousands of phony applications for foreign nationals, some of whom were hired by the firm for fake jobs and paid in cash while their documents cleared. The scheme, which allegedly ran from at least 2000 to 2003, netted the firm millions of dollars, according to investigators. The men are scheduled to appear in court March 29 and did not return repeated telephone calls for this story. But to many familiar with the firm the 18th largest in the Valley last year and its track record, the charges come as a complete shock. “This sort of came out of the blue,” said Elizabeth Post, executive director of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, where Korenberg and Rodriguez were both longtime members and participants in the bar’s lawyer referral service. Post said there was never any hint of illegal activity. “I think they had a good reputation. They hadn’t any record with the state bar,” she said. Encino immigration attorney Roni P. Deutsch agreed that Korenberg and Rodriguez were regarded well among Valley lawyers. “The general feeling in the community is people respect these lawyers and were surprised,” she said. “People are really surprised.” But Crystal Williams, director of programs for the Washington, D.C.-based American Immigration Lawyers Association, said an indictment of this magnitude the largest visa fraud investigation in L.A. history, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office raises concerns. “It doesn’t put anyone exactly in good light in that field,” Williams said. “I hope that it’s extremely rare. If they did go over the line, I would hope that is unusual.” Fast-growing problem While specific numbers are hard to peg down, visa fraud by some counts is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the country. As far back as 2001 before tougher controls were put into place after 9/11 , a Department of Labor Inspector General found that 54 percent of the 214,000 applications filed during a four-month period were at least partially inaccurate. Many times, the fake information comes in the form of phony support documents, such as marriage and birth certificates, school records, bank accounts and pay stubs. Aliens applying for visas use the documents to prove that they have family ties or a job in the U.S. as required by the government. But because the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services handles a daunting number of applications every year 6.3 million in 2005 many falsified documents slip through the cracks despite extensive protocols, the inspector general study found. Just this month, a West Hills immigration consultant was sentenced to more than two years in jail for conspiracy, immigration fraud and money laundering. Henry Hossein Haghighi Heguman was one of four defendants arrested in 2004 in an alleged visa fraud scheme that brought as many as 99 aliens into the country. Investigators said the consultants lied on forms claiming that businesses needed a particular worker who was applying for a visa. The firm charged as much as $24,000 for each case, investigators found. In the case of ASK Law Group, the indictment contends Korenberg Rodriguez and two other firm employees Partner Philip Abramowitz and paralegal Heidi Poepping, who previously pleaded guilty to fraud filed false employment-based visa applications on behalf of foreign nationals who wanted to work in the U.S. Hiring allegations The firm allegedly hired 14 of the aliens for secretarial and paralegal positions and paid them in cash while their visas cleared. Further, according to the indictment, the firm filed false documents about the immigrants’ work experience and lied on forms, listing them in higher positions at the firm, such as in human resources and IT. What makes the case unique, said Williams of the immigration lawyers group, who has read the indictment but is not intimately familiar with its entire history, is that immigrants applying for visas appeared to be legitimately working at the firm, just not under the job titles listed on the forms. Williams said the distinction is important from the vast majority of other visa fraud cases, which are usually obvious deceptions. It’s unclear from the indictment whether that’s the case with Rodriguez and Korenberg, she said. “Some of the ones we see are blatant fake jobs,” Williams said. “This one gets into an area where they can walk a fine line between aggressive lawyering and falsification.” Williams said some lawyers test the limits of the definitions to allow as many visa designations as possible. But they have to fit the strict order of the law, she said. “The key is always how you describe the job. Any immigration petition is going to put the job in the best light to qualify for that particular visa type,” she said. “You’ve gone too far if you’ve gone beyond the best light and start making up duties. And I don’t know if they went too far.” Whether they went over the line will ultimately be decided in court this spring. For the moment, Post of the Valley Bar Association said she doesn’t expect any negative fallout from the allegations. “I think this was an attorney or a firm that allegedly did inappropriate things,” Post said. “But one or two attorneys shouldn’t reflect badly on Valley attorneys or the profession as a whole.” It’s a point echoed by Sheldon J. Eskin, an immigration lawyer in Universal City who knew both lawyers in passing. Asked whether he thought the indictment casts all immigration lawyers in a bad light, he said: “The immigration bar I know, the people I know, are all upstanding people. I can’t say I know everyone in the field, but I hope it doesn’t.” If convicted, Rodriguez faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison; Korenberg could serve up to 225 years.
