AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885

August 8, 2006

BETHESDA LAWYER AND WASHINGTON, D.C. LAW FIRM SENTENCED FOR IMMIGRATION FRAUD

Law Firm Submitted Over 100 False Documents to the Department of Labor and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service

BALTIMORE, Maryland - Irwin Jay Fredman, age 73, an attorney from Bethesda, Maryland, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release for conspiring to commit immigration fraud in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia during a four-year period, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson further ordered that Fredman and the law firm that he owns and manages, the Law Offices of I. Jay Fredman, P.C., Washington D.C., forfeit $200,000. Judge Nickerson ordered that the company be placed on one year probation, with the condition that it assist in locating assets to satisfy that judgement.

As part of his plea agreement, Fredman agreed to surrender his license to practice law.

United States Attorney Rod Rosenstein said, “Lawyers are supposed to help their clients comply with the law. People who use their knowledge to exploit the immigration system and violate the law betray the public’s trust. These individuals will be prosecuted.”

Gordon S. Heddell, Inspector General, United States Department of Labor, stated, “Today’s sentencing action is the successful culmination of an extensive investigation by this office and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Together, with the strong support and dedication of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we have put an end to the far-reaching fraud scheme perpetrated by Fredman and his colleagues that, if left undetected, could have possibly allowed dangerous individuals to enter our country. This office remains firmly committed to aggressively investigating fraud against the foreign labor certification program and looks forward to continuing to work with other law enforcement agencies on these extremely important investigations.”

According to the agreed statement of facts presented to the court on December 1, 2005, Fredman admitted that from April 2001 until May 2005 he and others at the law firm submitted fraudulent immigration documents to assist aliens in getting “green cards” through an employment-based visa program. The program permits an employer to sponsor an alien for employment in the United States if the employer has been unable to find qualified U.S. workers to fill the position. Fredman admitted that the Fredman law firm prepared and submitted to the Department of Labor and/or United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) more than 100 Applications for Alien Employment Certification and/or Immigrant Petitions for Alien Workers that contained material misrepresentations. These misrepresentations included false assertions that certain sponsoring employers had authorized the law firm to file applications on behalf of certain aliens; false statements about purported offers of employment; false statements about the work experience of many of the alien applicants; and/or forged signatures of some of the sponsoring employers who purportedly agreed to hire the aliens.

Fredman admitted that at his direction law firm employees would not ask alien clients to describe their actual work experience, but rather, would encourage them to create work experience letters for a particular job opening for which they were not qualified. Fredman also instructed the employees to tell the alien clients that it was unlikely that the government would ever verify the accuracy of the information contained in the fraudulent work experience letters. While the law firm usually charged $3,000 to $6,000 to help an alien legitimately obtain a “green card,” the law firm charged as much as $25,000 to file a fraudulent application. Fredman admitted that the law firm filed fraudulent immigration documents on behalf of 13 businesses, most of whom were unaware that the law firm was using their companies to sponsor the firm’s alien clients.

One of the law firm’s legal assistants, Elnur Veliev, age 21, of Silver Spring, was also charged in the indictment and pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy on September 27, 2005. A former attorney with the Fredman law firm, Sergei Danilov, age 46, of McLean, Virginia, was also charged in the indictment, plead guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced on June 14, 2006 to 46 months in prison. Another paralegal, Alp Canseven, remains a fugitive.

United States Attorney Rosenstein commended the investigative work performed by the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Rosenstein also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martin J. Clarke and Joyce K. McDonald, who are prosecuting the case.