Immigration Consultants Taken to Court

State Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer filed lawsuits Wednesday against three Los Angeles area immigration consultant companies for allegedly falsely portraying themselves as lawyers, false advertising and taking advantage of immigrant clients.

Although these are not criminal charges, which are typically filed by county prosecutors, a Lockyer aide said the fines in the Los Angeles Superior Court cases could total as much as $1 million because of multiple counts, each carrying penalties of $2,500.

“It is against the law for nonlawyers to be acting as attorneys, and, in addition, they are often doing so incompetently, and taking large fees,” Lockyer said.

The companies named were the Immigration Solution Center, Immigration World Wide Services Inc. and Asian Pacific Legal Services. At least two area attorneys, Alexis I. Torres and Wesley Sklark, were named as alleged accessories.

The only company that could be reached immediately was Asian Pacific Legal Services, whose founder, Walter Wenko of Monterey Park, said Lockyer “has gone off half-cocked” and predicted that his firm will be fully vindicated.

Wenko said he has been disbarred for failing to comply with a 90-day disciplinary suspension by the State Bar of California, but has hired attorneys to perform any necessary legal work for the company’s clients.

Torres and Sklark are accused of improperly accepting clients referred from the non-attorney defendants in violation of the Business and Professions Code.

“I emphatically deny everything alleged about me. . . . I’ll be vindicated when this thing is over,” Torres said. “I’m a good attorney.”

A recording on Sklark’s answering machine said he did not accept calls.

The complaints released by Lockyer allege that the companies charge fees ranging from $20 to $1,500 for legal services they cannot lawfully provide and are falsely guaranteeing favorable and speedy results.

Sometimes too, “without consulting an attorney, the non-attorney defendants advised clients, at times erroneously, whether they were entitled to immigration benefits and got clients to pay to file frivolous immigration applications,” Lockyer said.

Often, he said, immigrants in the United States illegally are afraid to complain to authorities when they are defrauded.

The attorney general said he is asking the courts to order restitution, enjoin the companies from continuing their practices and levy the fines.