Five people were convicted by a jury in Sacramento, Calif. for their involvement in an elaborate
asylum scam.
All five defendants, which included three lawyers and two interpreters, were convicted of
conspiracy to defraud the government by filing false asylum claims that claimed the asylum seekers were persecuted in their homeland and feared harm or injury was imminent should they return.
As a result of the scheme, which took place between 2000 and 2004, an estimated 400 to 1,000 people were granted asylum and permitted to remain in the U.S.
The five defendants operated the scam out of their law firm, which had offices in Sacramento and San Francisco. According to lead prosecutor Benjamin Wagner, the defendants engaged in "an assembly-line fraud factory that turned out hundreds of false claims."
While the five defendants were not found guilty of all charges being brought against them, federal prosecutors said the jury agreed with the bulk of the prosecution's case.
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