Green card scam couple jailed

A Florida husband and wife team who made millions from victims through a long-running Green card visa lottery scam have been sent to prison and ordered to pay massive fines.

John Romano, 30, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was sent to jail for 37 months by US District Judge James Cohn last Friday after pleading guilty to mail fraud offences in connection with the scam. Romano's wife, Hoda M. Nofal, 29, began a six-month sentence in April after pleading guilty to obstruction of mail offences related to the same racket.

According to court records, the couple ran eight websites which misled consumers into believing they were affiliated with the US governmen. The sites offered help in applying to the annual green card lottery for a fee of $250 a throw. The sites - which unsurprisingly had nothing to do with the government - were charging a tidy sum for a service the US State Department provides for free. The lottery is designed to encourage individuals from countries with low immigration rates to move to the US. The State Department approves 50,000 lottery applications a year under the scheme.

Such is the appeal of green cards (US permanent resident visa) that the duplicitous duo were able to enjoy a lavish lifestyle on the back on money they fleeced from victims, many of who came from their own Hispanic community. The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reports that Romano and Nofal "deposited about $3.5 m into the bank during the year before their October 2003 arrests, paid off $739,000 in credit card debt and bought a $1.5 million waterfront mansion in Fort Lauderdale's Las Olas Isles".

That's all history now. Romano and Nofal's Global Web Solutions (alias "USA Immigration Services") business has been shut down. In order to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the couple have agree to pay $2.2m in restitution to victims. The couple have sold their mansion, a 2004 Jaguar sports car, Rolex watches and hawked their jewellery to pay the fine, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reports.

They also agree to put up a $5m "good behaviour" bond before they set up any business marketing "government-issued travel or residency documents". The case against the pair is part of a wider FTC crackdown on fraud targeting Spanish-speaking consumers. ®

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