US-based Ghanaian lawyer, Kofi Amankwaa Sentenced to 70 months for Large-scale Immigration Fraud

Kofi Amankwaa, a former immigration attorney of Ghanaian descent based in the Bronx, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for immigration fraud after overseeing a long-term scheme to file fraud immigration applications under the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”).

Kofi Amankwaa, 70, pleaded guilty on September 17, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, who issued the sentence on Wednesday, February 26.

According to filings and public court proceedings, Amankwaa and a group of workers submitted thousands of fraudulent immigration applications (Form I-360 VAWA Petitions) for clients between September 2016 and November 2023, falsely claiming that the clients were abused by their US citizen children.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Amankwaa used these fraudulent applications, as well as other submissions, to request advance parole travel documents on behalf of his clients.

Advance parole documents allow those without legal status in the United States to travel abroad temporarily and then return.

After securing advance parole travel documents for his clients, Amankwaa ordered them to travel abroad and return to the United States. He subsequently utilised these documents to qualify for permanent residency, despite the fact that his customers were not victims of abuse.

He used the unlawfully obtained advance parole to support his clients’ applications for lawful permanent residence status.

Amankwaa’s clients paid between $3,000 and $6,000 for his services, plus administrative expenses. Acting US Attorney Matthew Podolsky described Amankwaa’s actions as a mockery of the US immigration system.

“Kofi Amankwaa, a former immigration attorney, mocked the United States immigration system and VAWA — a law that allows noncitizen victims of domestic abuse to obtain lawful permanent residence status — by filing thousands of immigration documents falsely claiming that his clients had been abused by their children or other family members.”

“Amankwaa frequently filed false petitions without informing his clients, pocketing thousands of dollars from each victim. Amankwaa now risks a lengthy prison sentence for his crimes,” Podolsky stated.