According to Acting Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal, Bergen County Prosecutor, a man from Buford, Georgia disguised himself as a military law officer to swindle a family seeking to attain permanent resident status in the United States.
A member of the affected family went to the Palisades Park Police in March 2016 to issue a complaint about the supposed officer. Following an investigation by the White Collar Crimes Unit and Palisades Park Police Department, Mr. Sung H. Lee was arrested on June 14, 2016. Mr. Lee was charged with theft by unauthorized practice of immigration law, and deception according to Prosecutor Grewal. He was held on $75,000 bail pending a July court hearing
Prosecutor Grewal said that Sung Lee, convinced the family to give him more than $100,000. The money was supposed to go toward helping family members with their current immigration situation.
Mr. Lee told the family that he was a military officer working on loan to the Palisades Park Police Department and the FBI. Prosecutor Grewal further said about the encounter that “Mr. Lee presented himself as an individual who could utilize his connections to obtain permanent resident alien status for the [family members].” According to Prosecutor Grewal, Mr. Lee forged documents that implied he was connected with a “learning center” that could legally sponsor their applications for immigration. Mr. Lee collected more than $100,000 from the family as a processing fee.
Prosecutor Grewal asserted that “The fees were never returned and there were no applications processed.”
