United States Attorney
Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
APRIL 25, 2011 ELLEN DAVIS, CARLY SULLIVAN,
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, announced that CLOVER A. PEREZ was
found guilty today by a jury in Manhattan federal court for
defrauding clients of thousands of dollars in connection with the
filing of fraudulent applications for immigration benefits.
PEREZ was also convicted of using a client’s name to open a
fraudulent credit card account that she then used for her own
expenses. She was convicted after a one-week jury trial before
U.S. District Judge MARVIN E. ASPEN.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “Clover
Perez scammed innocent victims, taking advantage of their trust
and stealing their hard-earned savings. But that alone was not
enough to satisfy her greed. As the jury found, Perez even stole
one of her victim’s identities so she could underwrite her
extravagant buying sprees. With today’s verdict, Perez will now
be held accountable for her crimes.”
According to the trial evidence and other documents
filed in the case:
From April 2005 through November 2008, PEREZ, who
operated Reliable Clerical Services, Inc., d/b/a Reliable
Immigration Services, in Queens, swindled immigrants out of
thousands of dollars by claiming that she could get them green
cards and other immigration benefits, when she knew she could
not. Among other things, she charged phony fees that were not
actually required by immigration authorities, and continued to
take money from clients long after their applications had been
rejected. She submitted many applications under the L.U.L.A.C.
program, a limited immigration amnesty and legalization program
that allowed certain illegal immigrants – who, among other
things, must have resided in the United States before January 1,
1982 – to apply for legal residence. Despite knowing that her
clients had entered the U.S. too late to be eligible for the
L.U.L.A.C. amnesty program, she nevertheless told clients she
could get them green cards, prepared applications that contained
false statements about their dates of entry, and submitted those
applications to the United States Department of Citizenship and
Immigration Services (“USCIS”). She charged her clients
thousands of dollars per application and made more than $400,000
in illicit proceeds from her scheme.
In addition, in 2006, PEREZ used a client’s personal
identifying information to obtain a fraudulent credit card
account in that client’s name. She then used that account to
make multiple purchases of luxury items, including plane tickets
for herself and members of her family.
* * *
PEREZ, 45, of Elmont, New York, is scheduled to be
sentenced on October 7, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. She faces a
mandatory minimum term of 2 years in prison, and a maximum term
of 67 years in prison.
Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative efforts of the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office and the New York
City Field Office of the USCIS Office of Fraud Detection &
National Security.
This case was prosecuted by the Office’s General Crimes
Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys NIKETH VELAMOOR and JAMES J.
PASTORE, JR., are in charge of the prosecution.
11-108 ###
-2-
