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Joel Bander Law and Luchie Mendoza Allen | Balita Owner Anthony Allen - Beirne's General Manager - at

Center of Immigration Fraud Scandal

January 7, 2012

By Rene Villaroman with

PWD Investigative Team

 

www.pinoywatchdog.com

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IN the last issue of Pinoy WatchDog.com we ex posed how Attorney Beirne’s office

used three false and non-existent companies as a front to scam Fili pino Reynaldo Anson Villarica of Cavite out of thousands of dollars of immigration fees. Beirne’s law office forwarded Notice of Job Availability that our investigators determined had a false company, fake address and phone number having no relationship to any em ployers at all.

New documents have now surfaced demonstrating that An thony Allen, the general manager of Beirne Law Offices, was direct ly involved in trying to hide the fact that a non-existent employer sponsor was used to lure Mr. Vil larica to pay exhorbitant legal fees to the Beirne Law Office for a non-attainable green card. Mr. Allen is also the co-owner of Balita Newspapers, along with his wife, Luchie Mendoza Allen. Numerous court filings and testi mony in federal proceedings have discussed that Anthony Allen and his wife Luchie Mendoza Allen are the real non-attorney owners of Beirne Law Offices.

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On February 13, 2002, An thony Allen wrote Mr. Villarica that he would charge him extra legal fees to hasten the processing of the employment visa from the false company. The letter states that “there should not be any prob lem getting the current sponsor to sign an RIR petition for you.”This letter was signed by Anthony Al len without any indication that he was not a lawyer. However, left unanswered is how a non-existent company could sign anything at all.

Mr. Villarica dutifully paid yet another attorney fee to the Beirne Law Office for an expedited pro cessing known as Reduction in Recruitment (RIR). However, the U.S. Department of Labor re turned the filing to the Beirne Law Office, stating that numerous ‘de ficiencies’ existed, and request ing an amended filing.

However, Beirne Law Office never made further efforts to expedite the visa application after taking Villarica’s money and being told by the gov ernment the filing was defective. Then, one year later, Mr. An thony Allen, on February 6, 2003, wrote Mr. Vil larica again, stat ing that the false employer was “no longer in a posi tion to sponsor you.” The letter continues “the good news is, that you are a 245(i) beneficiary. This means that the 245(i) waiver can be transferred to a new immigrant-based petition.”

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An immigra tion lawyer who processed hundreds of employ ment based petitions during this period said that the “245(i) waiver being transferable is simply false. The initial petition had to be ap proveable when filed. Since this was a fake company there was no priority date that could have been preserved. From my review of the file the Beirne office clearly knew this the whole way through the process.”

The letter continues that “there is no need [for Villarica] to respond to the letter” as another petition was being processed on his behalf. “This is also crazy,” the immigration lawyer said. “An employment visa beneficiary does not sit at home without any in was a fake company there was no priority date that could have been preserved. From my review of the file the Beirne office clearly knew this the whole way through the process.”

The letter continues that “there is no need [for Villarica] to respond to the letter” as another petition was being processed on his behalf. “This is also crazy,” the immigration lawyer said. “An employment visa beneficiary does not sit at home without any in volvement in the petition. The em ployer and employee both must be involved.” The experienced im migration lawyer asked that their name not be used, as Balita Media is quite ruthless in attacking any one who criticizes them.

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The February 6, 2003 Antho ny Allen letter also did not indi cate that he was not an attorney. Many commentators to Pinoy WatchDog.com have advised that they thought Anthony Allen was their lawyer and were led to be lieve that he was an attorney.

Mr. Villarica told Pinoy WatchDog.com that until he saw other similar articles about Attor ney Beirne’s office in our news paper that he was afraid to talk to anyone about these experiences. He told me that the last time he visited the Beirne Law Office to com plain he said that An thony Allen held him by the arm very firmly and said, “You have to be patient, these things take time.” Villarica recently told PinoyWatchDog. com that “the way he was holding me, I felt very threatened. I never contacted them again.” Anthony Al len is about six foot four.

“Now that these documents have been explained to me it all makes sense now what they were doing to me. I had no way of knowing back then.” Villarica said. “At least others will now know how the Beirne Law Firm operates so other Filipinos will not be hurt.”