Jenetta Ferguson took around $10,000 each from students promising visas.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A New York teacher has been indicted by the Manhattan Supreme Court for swindling thousands of dollars from her foreign students, including from ones in Bangladesh, by falsely promising them green cards in exchange for hefty fees, the New York Post reported earlier this month.
Jenetta Ferguson, 58, who taught English as a second language (ESL), allegedly approached several students and offered to secure them visas for $8,500 to $10,500, Manhattan prosecutors alleged.
Ferguson, who pleaded not guilty, faces a first-degree felony charge of scheme to defraud, four counts of third-degree grand larceny and two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny.
Authorities stated she stole at least $30,000 from at least six people in the country on student visas. Law360 reported the victims hailed from Bangladesh, Italy, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan.
In the vein of immigration schemes, news broke in early April of a 39-year-old woman, also from New York, who married 10 different men since 1999.
All of the grooms were foreign nationals, including seven from countries “red-flagged” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Georgia and Mali. Six of the men filed for legal permanent resident status using their marriage to Barrientos; two were approved, and another was deported to Pakistan in 2006 after an investigation found he made threatening statements toward the U.S., prosecutors disclosed.
The multiple-bride, Liana Barrientos, has not been implicated on any charges related to immigration fraud, yet. However, the Bronx district attorney’s office told The New York Times that the Department of Homeland Security, which deals with immigration, is “involved” in the case.