A 70-year-old former US immigration attorney of Ghanaian descent, Kofi Amankwaa, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for running a fraudulent immigration scheme that spanned several years.
His sentencing, according to the Department of Justice, took place on February 26, 2025, under U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, following Amankwaa’s guilty plea on September 17, 2024.
Matthew Podolsky, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, confirmed the outcome, emphasizing the severity of Amankwaa’s crimes.
“Kofi Amankwaa, a former immigration attorney,made a mockery of the U.S. immigration system and VAWA — a law that provides noncitizen victims of domestic abuse a path to lawful permanent residence status — by filing thousands of immigration documents falsely alleging that his clients were victims of abuse by their children or other family members. Amankwaa repeatedly filed these false applications without telling his clients that he was doing so, and pocketed thousands of dollars from each client he victimized. Amankwaa now faces a significant prison sentence for his crimes,” the district attorney is quoted to have said.
From September 2016 to November 2023, Amankwaa is said to have orchestrated a scheme targeting clients seeking lawful permanent residency in the U.S by filing thousands of Form I-360 petitions under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), falsely claiming his clients had suffered abuse from their U.S. citizen children or family members.
Without their knowledge or consent, Amankwaa is said to have signed these documents as the preparer, exploiting a law meant to aid domestic abuse victims.
Amankwaa then used the filings to obtain advance parole travel documents, instructing his clients to travel abroad and return, before leveraging the documents to pursue residency applications, many of which failed due to detected fraud.
Amankwaa according to the Department of Justice, profited significantly by charging his clients between $3,000 and $6,000 each, plus additional fees, despite knowing the abuse claims were baseless.
Amankwaa ran into trouble after complaints by some of his clients led to the suspension of his New York law license in November 2023, followed by his disbarment in August 2024. ‘
Beyond the 70-month prison term, the court also slapped Amankwaa with three years of supervised release and has also been asked to forfeit $13,389,000. Amankwaa has also agreed to pay $16,503,425 in restitution to victims his victims.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
