Published on Mar 10, 2018Immigration attorney-6 years in prison for Visa Fraud as National Security Violation

An Indianapolis-area immigration attorney was sentenced to 75 months in prison for submitting more than 250 fraudulent visa applications, the Justice Department said.

Joel Paul, 45, of Fishers, Indiana, pleaded guilty in November to one count each of mail fraud, immigration document fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to submit fraudulent U-visa applications.

In addition to the prison sentence, Paul received three years of supervised release and ordered to pay up to $750,000 in restitution to his victims.

Paul admitted that he submitted more than 250 false Applications for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant on behalf of his clients from 2013 to 2017. Those applications falsely claimed Paul’s clients had been crime victims and had provided substantial assistance to law enforcement in investigation the crime.

Roughly 200 of the false applications included copies of a certification he obtained from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana in 2013 without the USAO’s knowledge.

The Justice Department said Paul’s victims, who paid about $3,000 per application, were not aware of the fraud.

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“Immigration fraud undermines not only the public’s faith in our institutions and the legal profession, it also jeopardizes public safety and compromises national security,” said John P. Cronan, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Attorneys who commit such egregious fraud on our legal system and their own clients will be held accountable.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case with the assistance of USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate.

https:// m.youtube.com/watch?v=77BPKZeUUgA

https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/9/immigration-attorney-sentenced-more-6-years-fraud/

UPDATE: Lawyer Eric Conn asking for part of federal case to be thrown out

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT/WYMT) – UPDATE 3/26/18 @ 6:35 p.m.

Eastern Kentucky attorney Eric C. Conn is asking for part of a federal case against him to be thrown out.

Conn’s attorney filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss Conn’s original 18-sound indictment which was reinstated after his December 2017 arrest. Conn is citing double jeopardy as the reason for the request.

Conn entered a plea deal last year after he admitted to stealing more than $500 million in a social security scam.

His attorney said the government cannot reinstate the original indictment because he accepted the plea. Government officials also said his sentencing occurred when he escaped custody in June of 2017.

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky will rule on the motion once prosecution has a chance to respond.

UPDATE 1/9/18

Eastern Kentucky lawyer Eric C. Conn is talking about his escape. Conn gave the details in a handwritten, 42-page letter sent to WKYT's news partner, the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"Mr. Conn is very intelligent, but he wants to have his side of the story known," said Bill Estep, the Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Conn mailed the letter to. "The things he said were fascinating."

In April 2016, a federal grand jury indicted Conn on charges he defrauded the government out of more than half a billion dollars. He pleaded guilty in March 2017 and was awaiting sentencing when he disappeared in June 2017. The next month, a judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison. In his letter to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Conn said he decided to run because he feared being sexually assaulted while behind bars.

"What does one do when he is forced to reconcile his respect for what he knows is right and his fear of being sexually assaulted or sexually abused?" Conn wrote to the Lexington Herald-Leader. "I was not a believer and I did not have the courage to seek out counseling. I allowed fear to control my decisions."

Conn says he drove to New Mexico where he got into Mexico through a pedestrian crossing. He says no one checked his identification. In Mexico, he says, he used a puppy to cross the border. He thought it would help him get past security officers.

"The little guy was not exactly Rin Tin Tin, but I thought almost everyone loves puppies," Conn told the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Authorities captured him at a Pizza Hut in Honduras last month. Conn described his life as a fugitive saying it was miserable.

"Honestly, honestly, it was horrible," he wrote. "I never got one true minute of relaxation."

"He said he never had one minute of relaxation. Life on the run was no fun. It sounded like he was almost relieved that it was over," said Estep.

"He told me he lost a lot of weight and was looking over his shoulder all the time. He was paranoid. He said he got really depressed."

Conn also said he suffered "painful guilt" over the fraud he committed even before pleading guilty.

"The actions I took to ensure that my clients would receive their disability benefits were unjustifiable," Conn wrote.

He is now in solitary confinement at the Grayson County Detention Center, waiting for a trial on escape and other charges.

UPDATE 12/29/17 @ 9:55 p.m.

Embattled eastern Kentucky lawyer Eric Conn filed a motion Friday in federal court, indicating he’s broke and needs a public defender.

In the court documents, Conn says the U.S. government seized all of his property. Conn also wrote he had an anonymous bank account with the Bank of Guatemala with $40,000, but by the time he was taken into custody, he was no longer able to withdraw any money.

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