For inducing illegal immigration, mail fraud; Denies charges
SAN JOSE – A Filipino-American immigration consultant convicted of encouraging illegal immigration for private financial gain and mail fraud denies the charges against her, and plans to seek a re-trial.
A federal jury on Tuesday, July 30 found Evelyn Sineneng-Smith, 66, guilty of three counts each of encouraging or inducing illegal immigration for private financial gain and mail fraud, according to a US Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
Sineneng-Smith faces a maximum sentence of anywhere between 10 to 20 years in prison for each count of mail fraud and profiting encouraging illegal immigration, the DOJ said. She is scheduled to be sentenced on November 4, 2013.
Prosecutors said Sineneng-Smith filed labor applications for her clients seeking a green card, despite knowing that her clients were not eligible.
“I don’t know why this is happening to me,” Sineneng-Smith said in a phone call to Asian Journal. “From the time I started my practice until the government closed it, I’ve filed more than 800 labor certifications, about 95 percent for Filipinos who worked at care homes. The applications were all lawfully applied.”
According to the DOJ, from 1990 to 2008, Sineneng-Smith operated several immigration consultation businesses with offices in San Jose, Beverly Hills, La Jolla, Las Vegas, NV and New York.
Prosecutors said Sineneng-Smith profited from Filipinos with visitors’ visas, who were seeking ways to obtain lawful permanent residency in the US.
She charged nearly $6,000 to file, on their behalf, a labor certification from the US Department of Labor despite knowing that her clients did not qualify for an employment-based visa or a green card, prosecutors said.
According to the testimony of several victims, Sineneng-Smith failed to inform them that they were ineligible to obtain permanent residence.
In addition, prosecutors said, Sineneng-Smith encouraged victims to overstay their tourist visas and work illegally in residential healthcare facilities.
Prosecutors presented evidence showing that in a three-year span (from August 2004 through 2007) Sineneng-Smith deposited over $3.3 million dollars in payments from her clients.
“Those who corrupt the integrity of our nation’s legal immigration system must understand there are serious consequences for those actions,” said Joseph Vincent, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, San Jose.
“We will continue to work with our counterparts to investigate those who manipulate and exploit that system for their own personal financial gain.”
Sineneng-Smith denied the charges, saying two of the three alleged victims testified at trial against her. One of them disappeared, she said.
“These were three illegal immigrants,” Sineneng-Smith said. “They were threatened by the federal government and given work permits to cooperate in the case against me. It’s been very unfair to me.”
Asked if these were just disgruntled clients whose applications were denied, she referred Asian Journal to her attorney, Daniel Cook, a partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP in San Francisco.
Asian Journal’s phone calls and messages to Cook have not been returned as of press time.
According to her Linkedin profile, Sineneng-Smith graduated from College of the Holy Spirit, in Manila.
She describes herself as an Entrepreneur/Unlawful Detainer and Evictions Assistant at Evelyn Sineneng-Smith, and Fashionista Entrepreneur at Fashionista Style Boutique, and a Residential Portfolio Asset Manager.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend August 3-6, 2013 Sec A pg.1)
