Office of the Inspector General -- Immigration Fraud Investigation

 Ronald W. Bogardus, age 65 of Arlington, Virginia, a State Department contract fire and safety engineer and Samuel Kooritzky, age 63 of Vienna, Virginia, an attorney and the owner of the Capital Law Centers in Arlington, Virginia; Langley Park, Maryland; and Washington, D.C. were arrested as a result of a joint year-long investigation by the Department of State Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Labor OIG (Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations), the Internal Revenue Service, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The investigation was predicated upon information provided by the Department of Labor OIG that a personal services contractor and a local attorney were engaged in a scheme to forge and falsify documents for Immigration and Naturalization Service green card applicants.

 Kooritzky and Bogardus are charged with repeatedly filing fraudulent applications for alien employment certifications with the United States Department of Labor. As part of this scheme, Kooritzky and Bogardus would prepare and submit applications that they knew contained false information and forgeries on behalf of immigrants seeking a green card. In particular, Kooritzky and Bogardus would falsely state in the applications that they represented Northern Virginia employers seeking to hire immigrant workers and would routinely forge the signature of officials working for the employers to make it appear that the applications were authorized. Kooritzky and Bogardus charged their immigrant clients at least $8,000 per application and are suspected of filing between 1,425 and 2,700 fraudulent applications.