DA VANCE ANNOUNCES INDICTMENT OF MARTIN MANNERT FOR DEFRAUDING FOREIGN VICTIMS OF IMMIGRATION SCAM
“Many of New York’s immigrant communities depend on service providers for proper assistance with various applications, proceedings, and filings,” said District Attorney Vance. “Martin Mannert is accused of representing himself as someone who could provide these services and then lying to his clients about the benefits for which they qualified. Instead of preying on a single immigrant community, the defendant took advantage of vulnerable victims from all different backgrounds. I encourage anyone who may have been in contact with the defendant or who feels that he or she may have been the victim of a similar scam to call my Office’s Immigrant Affairs Hotline at 212-335-3600, regardless of immigration status.”
According to the indictment and statements made on the record in court, between January 2010 and April 2013, MANNERT, a naturalized United States citizen from Austria and president of a company called Consulting Services of New York, falsely represented himself as a legal advisor and immigration consultant to numerous victims from several countries, seeking to adjust their lawful status in the United States. Based on his fraudulent representation, victims paid MANNERT, who is not an attorney, an average of $10,000 dollars apiece. After accepting their money, the defendant sent his victims forged documents purporting to be from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Labor, falsely suggesting that victims’ applications for benefits, such as work authorization, had been approved. In fact, no applications were filed for any of the defendant’s victims during the period that they worked with MANNERT. The investigation into this case is ongoing.
Assistant District Attorney Rosemary Yu, Co-Director of the Immigrant Affairs Program, is handling the prosecution of the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Archana Rao, Deputy Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau, Thomas Wornom, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau, and Executive Assistant District Attorney David Szuchman, Chief of the Investigation Division. Program Coordinators Bridgett Smith and Jacob Pang of the Special Prosecutions Bureau provided valuable assistance with the case.
District Attorney Vance thanked the United States Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate, and the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (“HIDTA”) United States Marshals, Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, for their assistance with the investigation.
[1] The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Defendant Information:
MARTIN MANNERT, D.O.B. 8/23/1971
Los Angeles, CA
Charges:
- Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, a class D felony, 4 counts
- Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class D felony, 3 counts
- Forgery in the Second Degree, a class D felony, 4 counts
- Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony, 1 count
- Prohibited Conduct by an Immigration Assistance Service, a class A misdemeanor, 2 counts
- Prohibited Conduct by an Immigration Assistance Service, a class A misdemeanor, 2 counts