Two arrested for immigration fraud

WASHINGTON: Two Virginia men, one of them an employee of the US Department of State, have been arrested on charges of immigration fraud, a US district attorney announced Wednesday.

Samuel Kooritzky, 63, an attorney, and Ronald Bogardus, 65, an engineer at the US Department of State, are charged with “repeatedly filing fraudulent applications for alien employment
certification with the United States Department of Labor.”

The two, both of Arlington Virginia, allegedly claimed they represented northern Virginia employers seeking to hire immigrant workers. They routinely forged signatures of officials working for those companies, authorities charged.

Kooritzky— who owns Capital Law Centers of Arlington, Virginia, Langley Park, Maryland, and Washington — and Bogardus allegedly charged at leasast 8,000 dollars per application and are suspected of filing between 1,425 and 2,700 “fraudulent” applications, according to officials.

“This case represents an on-going effort by the Department of Justice to expose and stop fraud against the government,” said Paul McNulty, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. —AFP

Home | Foreign