Attorney Charged With Filing False Immigration Documents On Behalf Of Alien/Client

ATLANTA - Bonnie Monique Youn has been arraigned on federal charges that she submitted false documentation to the United States on behalf of a client who was an alien seeking lawful permanent resident status in the United States, inducing the alien to reside unlawfully in the United States, and witness tampering. 

“We expect lawyers to uphold and defend the rule of law, not assist clients in breaking the law, as Ms. Youn is charged in this indictment,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.  “Specifically, Ms. Youn is charged with obtaining legal status for a client in this country by filing false documents with the United States Government, and encouraging them to lie to federal agents.”

“The defendant stands accused of illegally attempting to manipulate our immigration system for her own personal gain,” said HSI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Brock Nicholson. “Homeland Security Investigations and the partner agencies on our Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force work diligently to preserve the integrity of our immigration system by aggressively investigating these types of fraud.”

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: From February 9, 2009, to the present, Bonnie Monique Youn, an immigration attorney, encouraged and induced an alien, identified by her initials in the indictment, to reside in the United States in violation of the law, and for Youn’s financial benefit.  Youn also filed documents with immigration that were false with respect to material facts, thereby engaging in visa fraud.  Then, once the investigation was underway, Youn engaged in witness tampering by contacting the alien and encouraging her to provide false information to federal agents when they questioned her. 

Bonnie Monique Youn, 44, of Atlanta, Ga., was arraigned today before United States Magistrate Judge Gerrilyn G. Brill.  Youn, who was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 1, 2014, was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond, and ordered to surrender her United States passport.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Document Benefit Fraud Task Force comprised of Special Agents with HSI, the United States Department of Labor-Office of the Inspector General, the United States Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, as well as Fraud Detection/National Security Officers of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Assistant United States Attorneys Susan Coppedge and William L. McKinnon, Jr.  are prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/.