Kississimee Man Sentenced For More Than 100 Fraudulent L-1 And E-2 Visa Applications

Man Sentenced For Aiding And Abetting The Filing Of More Than 100 Fraudulent L-1 And E-2 Visa Applications

Orlando, FL – U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza today sentenced Carl Farey (55, Kissimmee) to 10 months in federal prison for aiding and abetting visa fraud. The court also ordered Farey removed from the United States, pursuant to an agreed-upon judicial removal order.

According to court documents, from 2013 through 2020, agents from Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Document and Benefits Fraud Task Force identified more than 115 E-2 and L-1A employment-based nonimmigrant visa petitions associated with Farey and his two companies, of which he is the sole employee. Like many business visa petitions, these petitions require supporting documentation to establish that the beneficiary meets the minimum requirements to be approved for an L-1A/E-2 nonimmigrant visa or visa extension.

Farey’s services included completing immigration benefits application forms for the aliens by inputting false and fraudulent information into the application forms. Farey also altered and manipulated documents he had received from the aliens, and attached the resulting false and fraudulent documents as supporting evidence to immigration benefits applications. In order to distance himself from the fraudulent applications, Farey did not list his name as preparer on the applications and did not submit the applications himself. Instead, Farey provided completed immigration benefits applications to his clients, and instructed them to place those immigration benefits applications, along with the fraudulently altered, manipulated, created, and forged documents attached to those immigration benefits applications, in the mail and send them to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services processing centers in Vermont, California, and Texas.

“Immigration document and benefit fraud can have serious national security, public safety, and economic consequences,” said HSI Orlando Assistant Special Agent in Charge David J. Pezzutti. “The HSI Orlando Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF) will continue to work with partners like the U.S. Department of State - Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - Fraud Detection and National Security to protect the integrity of our lawful immigration system.”

This case was the culmination of the combined investigative efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of State – Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection – Criminal Enforcement Unit, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - Fraud Detection and National Security. These agencies comprise HSI’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, which was created to combat visa fraud and other similar crimes. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda Daniels