Feds Follow Accused Lawyer’s Money Trail to California Cemetery
A California lawyer and two of his business associates have been arrested in a scheme to obtain fraudulent visas and launder the money in burial plots.
The lawyer is Kelly Einstein Darwin Giles, who ran a West Covina law practice once known as the East West Law Group, according to a Contra Costa Times story based on wire service reports. Giles was charged with visa fraud for allegedly setting up fake companies to file fraudulent applications for work visas for foreign workers, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Giles and his two co-defendants allegedly charged from $6,000 to $50,000 to file a fraudulent visa petition. About 100 were filed, authorities said. The group is accused of investing the money in 30 vacant burial plots and 20 blank grave monuments at a Whittier cemetery.
Authorities said cemetery plots appreciate by up to 10 percent annually and aren’t as susceptible to economic downturns.
John Morton, Homeland Security assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the case is unusual. “Cemetery plots are certainly a novel way to attempt to launder the proceeds from criminal activity, but as this case shows, we will follow the money trail wherever it leads,” he said in a press release.
