Maximum Sentence:
- DD
- 55 years confinement
- Total forfeiture
- Reduction to E-1
- Fine
- Federal felony conviction
Our client was charged with nearly $30,000 in fraud for allegedly obtaining Basic Allowance for Housing, Overseas Housing Allowance, and Family Separation Allowance by claiming that her husband was residing in Brooklyn, NY, while the government claimed that her husband not only did not live in NY but also did not exist.
Based on discrepancies in various financial documents reviewed during an audit, the government and law enforcement conducted an exhaustive investigation into the actual whereabouts of our client’s husband, a third-country national from Trinidad who was neither located nor verified as a legal US (or other) citizen.
Although this case initially looked almost impossible to win, we demanded a jury trial and tenaciously fought all of the charges with hard-hitting attorney CPT Felix Onyango. We also kept the majority of the CID’s investigation out of evidence. After a nearly week-long trial, the client was found not guilty of all charges and specifications except a portion of the Family Separation Allowance charge. She received only 120 days of the possible 55 years in confinement.