U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Protecting national security by enforcing our nation's customs and immigration laws
Report suspicious activity 1-866-DHS-2-ICE
Quick Links
News Releases
March 14, 2007
Iranian media personality sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for running far-reaching visa fraud scheme
LOS ANGELES - A San Fernando Valley man known for his appearances on Farsi-language media outlets was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison for orchestrating an immigration fraud scheme that involved filing fraudulent employment visa applications on behalf of scores of foreign nationals seeking to come to the United States.
United States District Judge Ronald S. W. Lew sentenced Henry Hossein Haghighi Heguman, 61, of West Hills, an "immigration consultant� who regularly appeared on Farsi-language TV and radio programs, this morning in Los Angeles federal court. Haghighi's sentencing follows his guilty pleas last fall to conspiracy, two counts of immigration fraud and two counts of money laundering.
The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Labor, the Department of State, IRS-Criminal Investigation Division, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Haghighi is one of four defendants arrested in November 2004 in relation to the scheme that Haghighi admitted helped as many as 99 aliens obtain visas through fraud. Haghighi also admitted that his operation charged from $6,000 to $24,000, depending of the circumstances of the alien seeking a visa.
Employment-based visas are normally issued when a business in the United States needs a person to fill a specific job and is unable to find a qualified employee in the U.S. labor pool. The business can file a petition to allow a particular alien, who is supposed to be qualified to fill the job, to enter the United States to work for the petitioning business.
Relying on more than 200 Southern California businesses - ranging from medical clinics to auto parts stores, some real and some not - to serve as petitioners, Haghighi and his associates filed paperwork that fraudulently claimed a business needed to hire a particular worker who needed a visa to enter the United States. In most cases, the aliens who immigrated to the United States as part of this scheme never went to work for the petitioning businesses.
The investigation began when adjudication officers with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reviewed employment visa petitions with questionable employer need and employee qualifications. The matter was referred to ICE, which opened a criminal investigation.
Previously in this case, three of Haghighi's codefendants pleaded guilty. Farideh Mir, 59, of Sherman Oaks, an employee of a law firm that assisted Haghighi, pleaded guilty to four counts of immigration fraud. Mir is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Lew May 8. Grace Houra Shahraz Edison, 51, a Canoga Park businesswoman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. She is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Lew April 23. The fourth defendant, attorney Bita Logham Hoffman, 41, of Carlsbad, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud and one count of immigration fraud. Hoffman is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Lew April 11.
"One of the lessons from 9/11 is that false identities and fake documents present serious risks to national security by leaving the door open for criminals and terrorists to illegally enter and remain in the United States," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles. "ICE is determined to target not only the criminal organizations behind these schemes, but anyone else who profits from them."
"Immigration fraud poses a serious threat to the security of our country," said Debra D. King, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division in Los Angeles. "IRS Special Agents, who are trained to follow the money, bring their financial expertise to bear in these types of investigations, working toward the successful prosecution of those who launder the proceeds of their illegal activity."
-- ICE --
