South Windsor Man Pleads Guilty To Bilking Immigrant Clients

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — A South Windsor resident pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to charges connected with the defrauding of clients seeking immigration assistance, bilking them of more than $325,000 over a 5-year period.

Babar Khan, 43, pleaded guilty via videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Spector to conspiracy and tax offenses related to a scheme through which he and his wife, Khatija Khan, operated JLLAS CORP. and EIMAAN LLC, which were created to provide services to clients involved in proceedings with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), according to Leonard C. Boyle, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2015 to 2020, the Khans recruited clients who sought some form of immigration status, relief or benefit. Many of these clients were aliens residing in the U.S. without legal status and had limited education, a limited ability to understand English, and little to no knowledge of the documents that the Khans were filing with USCIS on their behalf, Bole said.

Khatija Khan represented herself as an attorney with a background in immigration matters, even though she was not an attorney. The Khans prepared petitions and applications for their clients that contained information that they knew to be false. They also fabricated false documents to support their clients’ applications with USCIS without their clients’ knowledge. They then mailed, or caused to be mailed, these fraudulent applications and documents to USCIS, where they were received and made part of the official Alien file of each respective client, Boyle said.

Many of the couple's clients received no relief from USCIS despite paying significant amounts of money. To generate fees from clients, Khatija Khan filed applications with USCIS even when the submissions lacked merit or a legitimate basis. Victims identified to date lost a total of $326,212 as a result of the scheme, Boyle said.

In pleading guilty, Babar Khan also admitted that, in the 2016 tax year, he failed to report to the IRS about $27,901 in additional taxable income and failed to pay an additional $7,942 in federal taxes that were owed, Boyle said.

Babar Khan and Khatija Khan were arrested on Dec. 19, 2019. After her arrest, Khatija Khan continued to defraud multiple clients, according to Boyle.

Babar Khan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, an offense which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and one count of making and subscribing a false tax return, an offense which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of three years. He is released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for May 23 in Bridgeport, Boyle said.

Khatija Khan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of mail fraud on Nov. 19, 2021. She awaits sentencing, Boyle said.