ATTORNEY'S PAPERWORK PUTS MANY IN JEOPARDY

The Miami Herald - Monday, August 25, 2003
Author: ALFONSO CHARDY, achardy@herald.com

After a car rental company hired him three years ago, a Brazilian business executive hired Javier Lopera, an immigration attorney in Coconut Grove, to help him get a visa to work in the United States.

But the Brazilian, who agreed to be interviewed on condition he not be identified, never got his visa.

Instead, federal immigration agents arrested him and threatened to deport him unless he testified against Lopera.

The man is one of thousands of migrants ensnared in what federal authorities say was Lopera's visa scam.

Lopera, 36, was convicted earlier this year of applying for visas for clients he said were executives of multinational companies when, in fact, many were undocumented migrants.

Authorities said Lopera forged visa petitions by adding the names of illegal migrants to legitimate requests.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in federal court.

Now federal immigration authorities are scouring thousands of green cards, work permits, visas and other documents issued to foreigners represented by Lopera and could revoke some if they are found to have been issued fraudulently, immigration officials said.

``What we are doing is undertaking a review of Mr. Lopera's client list,'' said Scott Weber, interim associate special agent in charge at the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami. ``We've identified and isolated a pool of approximately 3,500 individuals who have approximately 7,000 applications pending.''

Authorities believe that an unknown number of Lopera's clients deliberately helped the convicted attorney in his fraudulent scheme.

But some clients who say they had nothing to do with Lopera's scam fear they may lose their legal status and face deportation.

`YOU HAVE A CHOICE'

``The agents told me, `You have a choice: Either you testify or we sign a deportation order,' '' the Brazilian recalled in a telephone interview. ``Obviously, I agreed to testify.''

In exchange for his testimony, the Brazilian was given a temporary work permit.

Though the case against Lopera, who was convicted in May, drew scant public attention as it unfolded in court in the spring, it has reverberated among many immigration attorneys in South Florida.

Lopera was one of the region's most popular immigration attorneys. He could deliver visas to foreign nationals that other attorneys turned away because they had no legal immigration status.

``Now we know the reason for his popularity,'' Weber said.

``I remember clients who would come and see me and say, `Why can't you get me a visa? Lopera says he can,' '' said Tammy Fox-Isicoff, a Miami immigration attorney.

In the months since his downfall, many of Lopera's clients have flocked to dozens of other immigration attorneys.

Lopera's attorney, Bruce Udolf, declined to comment, citing the coming sentencing.

Lopera was charged with 19 counts of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud by making false statements in multiple visa petitions to the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which became part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Many of the forms Lopera was convicted of forging are used by foreign companies seeking work visas for foreign executives.

James Goldman, then-assistant director of investigations at the INS Miami district office, said earlier this year that federal investigators started probing Lopera when INS officers who reviewed petitions filed by him discovered a pattern of potential fraud.

Investigators said that an initial screening of suspect documents revealed that at least 100 contained forged signatures or false statements.

According to an affidavit, when Lopera learned his petitions were being reviewed, he tried to retract 97 of them.

Three former Lopera clients, who claimed they had nothing to do with his crimes, agreed to speak to a reporter but asked that their names not be used because they feared drawing further attention from immigration authorities. Two are represented by Fox-Isicoff and one by attorney Michael Bander . Two clients said papers that their companies sent to Lopera were altered before they were submitted to the INS.

A third client said she was not aware of alterations or problems until immigration authorities notified her two months ago that her green card petition would be revoked unless she provided evidence it was legitimate.

The Brazilian marketing manager for a fashion outlet turned to Fox-Isicoff to refile the petition.

The Brazilian car rental manager said he first detected anomalies in his paperwork when Lopera's office faxed him a copy of an INS notice bearing the name of a company for which he did not work.

``That was the first time I had an inkling that something was really wrong, because the name of the company was not the name of my company,'' the man said.

He said he went to Lopera in 1999 to file a request for a work visa so he could manage his company's car rental business in Miami.

After two years of waiting for INS approval, the car rental manager, who was living in South Florida on a temporary permit, said he pressed Lopera for answers.

``I asked him, `What's going on? It's been already two years,' '' the Brazilian said. ``He said it was in the process.''

When the Brazilian asked for evidence that the INS was working on his application, he said Lopera faxed him a copy of an immigration document showing receipt of the petition.

That's when he noticed the change in company names.

The Brazilian said he tried to contact Lopera about the discrepancy but said the attorney never called him back.

SPOTTED ALTERATIONS

Another Lopera client, a Colombian export-import business executive, said she noticed alterations in documents she gave Lopera to seek her work visa - but not until after Lopera was arrested in February.

``An immigration guy called my boss and started asking questions about whether the company had asked for a visa for me and three other people,'' she said in a telephone interview. ``But we didn't know who the other three people were.''

The woman said immigration officials concluded her paperwork was fraudulent and revoked her petition.

``One day I was having lunch with my boss and my new attorney called and said, `There's fraud and you're in trouble,' '' the Colombian recalled. ``I started crying because I thought I was going to get deported, that I had to go back to South America and that my life would change, all because of Lopera.''

Ultimately, the woman avoided deportation but had to file a new visa petition, which was approved recently.

``My case is now settled,'' she said. ``But at first it was a nightmare.''