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Long-time Immigration Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Fraud

     
By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 11, 2008
NORFOLK

A local immigration lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to charges of lying to federal authorities while trying to help a client obtain a green card based on a marriage he knew was phony.

Maxime A. Frias, 55, faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in March.

He admitted lying to a federal agent and falsifying an immigration affidavit on behalf of a client, even after he was warned by the agent that the client's marriage was a fraud.

Frias represented Riadh Saddem, who is facing a federal marriage fraud indictment, and Saddem's wife in an immigration court proceeding earlier this year, according to court records. Saddem was seeking a green card based on the marriage.

Because she is cooperating with authorities, the wife has not been identified. She told Frias that "this was not a real marriage and she thought he knew it," the records say.

The same day, an agent with the Department of Homeland Security notified Frias that Saddem's marriage was under investigation and warned him not to file an affidavit in support of Saddem's green card with the immigration court. The next day, Frias filed the document anyway, he admitted.

Frias also admitted that he subsequently lied to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services when asked if the Saddem marriage was bogus.

Saddem and his uncle, Mahmoud Saddam, owner of the Virginia Beach restaurant La Casa del Pasta e Pani, and three others face a federal indictment charging marriage fraud or related charges.

Frias and his attorney declined to comment after Wednesday's court proceeding.

Frias has been an immigration lawyer in Virginia Beach for years. He also is active in the Filipino community.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com

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