The couple charged their clients between $500 and $1,300 for the fraudulent immigration applications.
A US District Judge on Wednesday sentenced a Lakeland-based couple to long-term incarceration after they were found guilty of conspiracy, making false statements in immigration applications and petitions, and mail fraud.
According to the press release, Judge Charlene E. Honeywell has sentenced Rosa Cingari (68, Lakeland) to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison and Domenico Cingari (68, Lakeland) to 8 years and 1 month in federal prison.
Rosa and Domenico Cingari were found guilty of having assisted illegal aliens in obtaining Florida driver licenses by filing fraudulent immigration documents.
According to the judgment, the couple who were specifically filing I-589 – Applications for Asylum and Withholding of Removal forms; I-130 – Petitions for Alien Relative forms; and I-765 – Work Authorization forms, provided materially false information to USCIS to obtain USCIS I-797C Notices of Action.
The Cingaris put their mailing address on all of the fraudulent forms so that USCIS would mail the Notices of Action to their business, which was later sold to their alien clients.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Florida, the couple charged their clients between $500 and $1,300 for the fraudulent immigration applications. They collected at least $740,880 from their clients during the fraud scheme.
“In maintaining the integrity of our immigration system, USCIS has zero tolerance for fraud,” said Katherine Baranowski, USCIS Tampa Acting District Director. “Justice has been served with this sentencing, and we remain vigilant in detecting and bringing to prosecution any immigration fraud.”
“Immigration fraud subverts the orderly process of citizenship and compromises the security of our homeland,” said Ivan J. Arvelo, acting special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “HSI will move aggressively to investigate those who corrupt the integrity of our nation’s immigration system.”
The case was jointly investigated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The prosecution was done by Assistant United States Attorneys Stacie B. Harris and Simon Gaugush.