Bucks man pleads guilty to running immigration-fraud ring
A Holland, Bucks County, man pleaded guilty yesterday to operating a $3 million asylum-fraud ring and laundering the proceeds. During a hearing in federal court, David Lynn, 32, pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy, visa asylum fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to launder money.
A Holland, Bucks County, man pleaded guilty yesterday to operating a $3 million asylum-fraud ring and laundering the proceeds.
During a hearing in federal court, David Lynn, 32, pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy, visa asylum fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to launder money.
In exchange, Lynn agreed to forfeit about $1.7 million in assets he acquired through the scam and to cooperate with investigators. Prosecutors say he spent the rest.
Lynn faces up to 87 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. Sentencing is set for Jan. 13.
Yesterday's session was before District Judge Anita Brody, but the sentencing isn't likely to be, all parties agreed.
Brody halted the hearing abruptly, saying, "Oh, my God, I have a real problem with this," after realizing that defense counsel Ellen Brotman works for the law firm Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia.
"I want you to know my husband passed away and they are probating his will," Brody said of the law firm. She said that might create the appearance of a conflict of interest.
But the session resumed after Lynn, Brotman, and prosecutor Terri Marinari said they didn't think it mattered.
Lynn was indicted July 29 along with five other Russian-born men in connection with the scheme they ran from offices in Northeast Philadelphia and Southampton, Bucks County.
The scam was so lucrative that police found $562,000 in a safe hidden under the floor of Lynn's house. He installed a $42,000 swimming pool and had cash stashed in three safe-deposit boxes and a Swiss bank account.
Lynn prepared 380 fake asylum applications between January 2003 and March 2007. Single clients paid $8,000, couples $12,000.
Those seeking asylum were mostly from Russia, although others came from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine, records showed.
Lynn claimed to be a lawyer or to have special knowledge of the asylum protocol, court records indicated. He and his co-workers coached applicants to lie, saying they were being persecuted in their homeland due to religious, racial or political beliefs.
A few were granted asylum, but most were in the United States illegally and have since left, federal authorities said.
