Phony Attorney Charged With Operating Fraudulent Law Practice

PHILADELPHIA – Leaford George Cameron, 62, of Burlington, NJ, was charged today by indictment with mail fraud, wire fraud, and false statements, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.  The indictment alleges that from 2003 through 2015, Cameron operated a fraudulent law practice, pursuant to which he pretended to be a lawyer in order to defraud approximately 74 separate victim “clients,” who paid Cameron for what they believed was legitimate legal representation.  Cameron’s victims were residents of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Jamaica, and India.

Pursuant to the charged scheme, Cameron operated a fake law firm, appeared and spoke in court as the lawyer representing his victims, and filed various legal motions and forms in his victims’ cases in which he indicated – often under the penalty of perjury – that he was an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Cameron used four separate Pennsylvania Attorney Identification Numbers when filing legal forms, all of which belonged to other actual licensed Pennsylvania attorneys.  Cameron fraudulently represented clients in various legal matters, primarily immigration matters pending before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR”), a component of the U.S. Department of Justice.

If convicted of all charges, the defendant faces a statutory maximum sentence of 75 years in prison, up to $1.5 million in fines, three years of supervised release, and a $600 special assessment.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James A. Petkun.

An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.