Immigration Lawyer Guilty Of Green Card Fraud
North County Gazette
Posted on Tuesday, 14 of October , 2008 at 8:44 pm
BROOKLYNAn immigration lawyer based in Brooklyn was found guilty by a jury Tuesday afternoon in Manhattan federal court of conspiring to defraud the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by helping others obtain permanent resident cards, commonly known as Green Cards, through sham marriages.
Judge Gerard E. Lynch presided over the six-day trial.
According to the evidence at trial, from 2002 to 2004, Ihab Tartir agreed to submit false Green Card applications based on sham marriages to the Department of Homeland Security. From December 2006 to September 2007, Tartir again agreed to submit false applications to the Department of Homeland Security seeking Green Cards based on sham marriages.
Tartir met repeatedly with individuals who had entered into, or agreed to enter into, sham marriages, and he used his skill and training as an immigration lawyer to advise them how to trick the immigration authorities into believing that the marriages were genuine.
Four other defendants have pleaded guilty in this case.
Tartir is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 16. 10-14-08
