A Jackson Heights woman has been ordered to pay $3 million in penalties and restitution for convincing illegal immigrants to give her money in exchange for helping them become citizens, then doing nothing on their behalf. The State Supreme Court ruling comes after Attorney General, and still undeclared gubernatorial candidate, Andrew Cuomo filed a lawsuit against Miriam Mercedes Hernandez for swindling undocumented immigrants out of up to $15,000 each in Green Card and citizenship scams.
According to the Times, Hernandez has been ordered to pay restitution to 37 families who said they had been cheated. She has also been banned from "engaging in the business of immigration services," and ordered to pay $2.8 million for engaging in "the unauthorized practice of law and misrepresenting to the public that she had a special relationship with immigration officials and elected officials," said Cuomo. Last month, a storefront pastor in Corona, Queens, was sent to prison for two to six years for scamming more than 100 immigrants out of $840,000 with promises of U.S. visas and green cards.
