Attorney Pleads Guilty to Running Immigration Mill

Attorney Pleads Guilty to Running Immigration Mill
The New York Law Journal by Mark Hamblett  -  April 3, 2012

A disgraced immigration lawyer accused of running a massive fraud mill for over 13 years has pleaded guilty. Earl Seth David, 48, admitted on April 2 to conspiracies running from 1996 to 2009 to make materially false statements in relation to immigration applications and mail and wire fraud before Southern District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald. David faces a stipulated sentencing guidelines range of 6 1/2 to eight years, one month, when he is sentenced by Buchwald on Aug. 15. David also agreed to forfeit $2.5 million to the government.  Also known as Rabbi Avrahom David, David ran the Law Offices of Earl David in Manhattan. Suspended from practicing in 2004, he fled in 2006 to Canada, where authorities say he continued to receive proceeds from fraudulent immigration applications. The David firm ceased operations in 2009, when federal agents raided its offices. David was arrested on Oct. 11, 2011, when he was indicted with 11 others for processing more than 20,000 false applications, often charging high fees and faking documentation to show U.S employers were "sponsoring" aliens for employment.  David, who admitted to processing more than 100 fraudulent applications he called "indeed fake and false," is represented by Avraham Moskowitz. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Reh and E. Danya Perry are handling the prosecution.