LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Three South Los Angeles relatives pleaded not guilty today to charges of scamming dozens of immigrants by unlawfully providing legal services for residency or work permits.
Oscar Mauricio Gil, 64, was charged last July with 19 counts of grand theft and three counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, while his sister, Judith Gil, 68, is charged with 31 counts of grand theft, three counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and one count of extortion. Her daughter, Minerva Gil, 40, is charged with 22 counts of grand theft and three counts of conspiracy to commit a crime.
The three worked under the business name FJA and Associates based from their home, from which they allegedly conspired to illegally provide immigration services between Jan. 1, 2008, and June 2021, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The three allegedly filed invalid political asylum cases for the victims, resulting in the majority being unknowingly processed for deportation, while netting just over $101,000 from 38 alleged victims, according to the District Attorney's Office.
``The immigrant community should not be preyed upon and swindled out of their money from unscrupulous scammers,'' District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement released after the case was filed last summer.
The case stemmed from an investigation by the District Attorney's Notario Fraud Unit, Consumer Protection Division and the os Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.