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US - Staffing firm owner gets two years in visa fraud case

January 28, 2014

A judge sentenced the owner of a Los Angeles staffing firm on Monday to two years in prison for visa fraud, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced. The owner must also pay $54,000 in restitution and will be deported at the end of her sentence.

The owner, Lilia Tabafunda, 58, pleaded guilty to charges back in July.

Tabafunda operated People’s Resource International Services. She filed bogus work visa petitions on behalf of dozens of foreign workers that she falsely claimed had been recruited for positions with U.S. hospitals and nonprofit organizations, according to ICE.

Tabafunda charged workers between $2,500 and $10,000 to file visa petitions, ICE reported.