Fake Degrees, Real Disbarment

An attorney charged with federal offenses in New York has consented to disbarment in the District of Columbia.

The Board on Professional Responsibility has recommended to the Court of Appeals that the consent be accepted.

This press release of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York describes the charges

As alleged in an indictment (the “Indictment”) unsealed today in Manhattan federal court, KASSEL created a scheme to obtain employment-based visas for immigration clients in exchange for a fee by pretending that these individuals possessed advanced degrees that they never earned. To perpetrate the scheme, KASSEL and ROSANNA ALMONTE, an assistant working for KASSEL, prepared and submitted fraudulent visa applications supported by fictitious diplomas and fake transcripts. JANA HALODA and VACLAV HALODA, both originally clients of KASSEL, facilitated the fraud by creating the fraudulent diplomas and supporting documents on a home computer and printer. More than a hundred fraudulent visa applications supported by these forged documents were submitted between 2008 and the present.

The indictment is linked here. (Mike Frisch)