Buffalo Grove Man, Attorney Indicted For Immigration Fraud: Feds

CHICAGO — A Chicago attorney and one of his employees, who resides in Buffalo Grove, have been indicted on federal fraud charges for providing false and fraudulent information to U.S. authorities with the intention to obtain immigration benefits for foreign national clients.

According to prosecutors, Gerardo Dean, 58, of Park Ridge, owned a law office in Chicago and represented a company that operated skilled-nursing facilities. Dean is accused of conspiring with a company employee, Felicitas Cordero, 76, of Buffalo Grove, to provide false and fraudulent information to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on behalf of individuals in the Philippines seeking U.S. visas.

Dean and Cordero were both charged with one count of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud and three individual counts of immigration fraud. Both pled not guilty in court Wednesday.

Dean and Cordero reportedly filed and caused to be filed fraudulent H-1B and EB-2 visa petitions representing that the foreign nationals had managerial, supervisory, or higher-level jobs waiting for them at the company, according to the indictment. In actuality, prosecutors claim Dean and Cordero knew that the foreign nationals would work for the company as staff or registered nurses at pay rates than what was stated in the visa petitions.

In addition, Dean and Cordero allegedly instructed the foreign nationals to provide false information about the purported managerial, supervisory, or higher-level jobs during their overseas consular interviews. The indictment says Dean and Cordero did so knowing that U.S. immigration officials had a higher likelihood of approving H-1B or EB-2 visa petitions that said the employer would hire a foreign national in a managerial, supervisory, or other higher level position.

The charges allege that Dean and Cordero collected money from foreign nationals whom they helped fraudulently obtain the visas to work at the company, and that Dean also collected money from the company for his fraudulent conduct.