Saturday, January 28, 2012

A Toronto rabbi who fled the United States and is accused of masterminding a massive immigration fraud mill in America has been extradited from Canada to New York

Rabbi Avraham David, 47, whose real name is Earl Seth David, and who used to run a New York-based immigration law firm faces immigration fraud charges relating to the processing of thousands of false immigration applications. He was arrested in Toronto in October 2011 while walking near his home in North York, Toronto police announced at the time, with Det. Rick Mooney calling the case one of the largest scams in American history. Federal prosecutors in the United States says that David’s firm made millions of dollars by charging inflated fees to illegal immigrants to obtain legal status for them through fraudulent means. The million-dollar scam saw clients charged as much as $30,000 each. U.S. authorities say that he fled to Canada in 2006, and that his law firm closed in 2009. “When he fled to Canada to avoid prosecution, Earl Seth David left thousands of victims of his alleged fraud in his wake — people who believed he was helping them secure legal status and paid him a lot of money to do so,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. David is being held without bail after an initial court appearance. Prosecutors said that David is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States.

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