New York firms accused of offering unauthorised services

New York\'s Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo says his office is filing lawsuits against three companies for selling services to Caribbean and other immigrants that they were not authorised to provide, according to a report on www.gleanerextra.com.



The three companies: the Manhattan-based Immigration Community Service Corporation, Professional Solutions Consultants (doing business as Reliable Clerical Services and Reliable Immigration Services), and Centro Santa Ana, the latter two both based in Queens; offered legal assistance to immigrants without having licensed lawyers or proper accreditation, Cuomo said on Friday, August 21.



The attorney general said all three companies \"unlawfully filed immigration petitions with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to help immigrants and their families, but their lack of accreditation jeopardised the immigrants\' efforts to obtain legal status\".



He said the companies also failed to provide consumers with written contracts in both the customer\'s native language and in English, as the law requires.



The lawsuits are part of a continuing investigation by Cuomo\'s office into companies providing immigration services.



Cuomo also said his office had shut down three more New York immigration companies: Immigration Solutions and Systems Inc. of Manhattan; Alisandra Multiservices Inc. of Brentwood, New York; and All Immigration Services of Great Neck, New York.



The companies are permanently banned from immigration-related services and will collectively pay about US$118,000 in penalties.



The settlements also require the three companies to notify former and current clients that they are no longer providing any immigration-related services, and to submit quarterly reports of any complaints from the public.



\"The consequences of bad legal advice can be absolutely devastating; fraudulent legal services can haunt individuals and their families for a lifetime,\" Cuomo said.



\"Companies and individuals that represent someone in a legal proceeding without having the authority to do so must be stopped, and my office will hold them accountable,\" he added.



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