Sherin Thawer, an immigration lawyer who was indicted on federal charges of fraud for forging visa applications, was taken back into federal custody Monday after she violated the terms of her pre-trial release by continuing to practice law:
U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Stickney found that Thawer helped someone file an application for the renewal of a green card and failed to tell the client that she was suspended from practicing law.
Thawer, 45, was arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in February on suspicion of forging visa applications for unauthorized immigrants.
The Irving lawyer was released from federal custody on Feb. 20 until her trial, scheduled for Sept. 14. As conditions for her release, Thawer agreed not to violate a previous order banning her from practicing law and to tell all clients in writing that she couldn’t practice law, according to court documents.
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The man, identified only by initials during the hearing and in court documents, contacted Thawer on Feb. 5 to help him with the renewal of his green card. He sought her out because he used to listen to her radio show about immigration issues on Fun Asia, KZMP (104.9 FM), he said.
Thawer told him to meet at her house the same day, where the man paid her $2,600 for her services, the man said in court Monday.
The two continued to discuss the case through text messages until they met again at a FedEx location on March 8 where Thawer gave him the completed application to mail.
There Thawer told the client that she couldn’t sign the paperwork because of “temporary reasons,” the man said.
“She said it so sweet I didn’t even doubt it,” he said.
After continued poor communication and other signs of unprofessionalism, the man’s wife decided to search Thawer’s name on the Internet on March 16, the client said. When the couple saw news stories about her criminal case, they confronted Thawer and asked that she return $2,000, which she hadn’t done, he said.
The defense argued that the work Thawer did for the man didn’t count as practicing law because she never appeared before a court.
The seven-count federal indictment charges Thawer faces include:
[…] one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with immigration documents, one count of mail fraud, one count of transfer or use of the means of identification of another person and four counts of aggravated identity theft.
She surrendered her law license to the Supreme Court of Texas on June 4.
