http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir/profcond/ImmediateSuspensions/RotheyKenneth_ImmSuspension.pdfTwo Sentenced on Charges of Visa Fraud and Money Laundering in Scheme to Smuggle Illegal Chinese Nationals into United States
On June 29, 2007, in Houston, TX, Horacio H. Golfarini and Norman Chapa were sentenced to prison for their involvement in an intricate scheme to smuggle Chinese nationals into the United States. Golfarini was sentenced to18 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. Chapa was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and fined $3,000. Golfarini and Chapa, along with Kenneth L. Rothey, a local immigration attorney of Houston, were indicted and charged with conspiracy, visa fraud, encouraging Chinese nationals to unlawfully enter the United States, and money laundering. Rothey is a fugitive and believed to be in China. According to the indictment, at least eight U.S. businesses were used by the defendants to act as petitioners on behalf of ten Chinese clients willing to pay to obtain permanent residence status through employment-based visas. The defendants created an illusory relationship between Chinese companies and U.S. companies in exchange for an initial fee. Once each of the U.S. companies was shown on paper as a subsidiary of a Chinese company, the defendants would prepare and present fraudulent petitions and supporting documents on behalf of their clients with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Golfarini owned and operated Capitol Services Group, a brokerage firm, and admitted that between January 1999 and December 2002, while he worked at Rothey’s law offices, he concealed the source of the money obtained from Chinese clients willing to pay as much as $100,000 a piece for immigrant visas and work authorization. Golfarini also used the Capitol Services Group to promote the visa fraud scheme by paying recruiters who located Houston-based businesses willing to enter into contracts of sale with Chinese-based businesses; and to pay representatives of the Houston-based businesses down payments between $20,000 and $30,000 toward the purported sale. Chapa pleaded guilty in June 2005 to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and to encourage unlawful immigration. He admitted that he and the others created two shell companies in the United States which also had an illusory relationship with a Chinese company so that Chinese nationals could obtain immigration benefits. Paperwork filed by the Rothey law firm with the government falsely representing that various Chinese clients were seeking positions with the U.S. companies as multinational executives or managers.