A former Vice President of Operations for two airline staffing companies was charged with immigration fraud for employee applications.
According to the indictment, Eleno Quinteros Jr., 45, allegedly made demands for money from mechanics and collected thousands of dollars in exchange for assistance in the process to become legal permanent residents in the U.S.
Quinteros told the mechanics to deposit the money into his wife's bank account to avoid being detected.
He used a portion of the money to pay attorneys helping with applications and took the rest for himself.
"Lying to get a green card is a serious offense, particularly when the lie is an employer’s false statement that he has not extracted prohibited fees from his employees," said Acting U.S. Attorney Alana W. Robinson.
Quinteros, vice president of two companies and part owner of one, was in charge of recruiting airline mechanics from Mexico and help them get work visas. He then charged thousands of dollars to the recruits in exchange for helping them obtain legal permanent residency, according to the indictment.
He was charged with twenty counts of making a false claim in support of an immigration application and twenty county of false statements to a federal agency.