Convicted Houston Immigration Attorney
ICE announced that Kenneth Rothey, a Houston immigration attorney was convicted and sentenced on 8/18/09 for money laundering and conspiring to engage in visa fraud. Rothey and members of his firm prepared and presented fraudulent petitions and supporting documents on behalf of their clients to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. The indictment alleges Alanis, an attorney with a practice in in the Rio Grande Valley, paid money in return. Nguyen issued routine payments of approximately $200 to those U.S. citizens who acted as recruiters in the fake immigration proceedings. Many of the U.S. citizens had extensive criminal histories, gang associations and crippling drug additions. At her instruction, the spouses only met briefly, immediately before they obtained their marriage license or not at all. The court ruled that Nguyen utilized mass-marketing to facilitate the scheme by advertising it through recruiters and Facebook. The rooms were setup to appear as if they belonged to the fake spouses.
