Andreea Dumitru (New York State Office of the Attorney General)
May 9, 2019 By Laura Hanrahan
A Sunnyside-based immigration attorney has been sentenced to five years years in prison for operating a asylum fraud scheme, the Department of Justice announced yesterday.
Andreea Dumitru Parcalaboiu, 43, was convicted in November of last year of having submitted more than 100 asylum applications where she knowingly included false statements about the applicants, including fabricated narratives of persecution, criminal histories and travel histories. She also was found guilty of forging their signatures and falsely notarizing affidavits.
Dumitru, whose law firm was located at 48-23 Skillman Avenue until last year, carried out the scheme for years, from 2013 and 2017.
“Using lies and forgery, Andreea Dumitru, an immigration attorney, cheated the nation’s asylum program,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. “For her crimes, Dumitru will now spend five years in prison.”
As part of her sentencing, Dumitru was ordered to pay $157,500 and will also undergo one year of supervised release.
Dumitru’s law firm at 48-23 Skillman Ave. closed in July 2018 Photo: QueensPost
Just months before the asylum fraud conviction, Dumitru was entangled in another legal scandal. In May 2018, she pleaded guilty to helping Evgeny Freidman, known as the “Taxi King,” evade paying more than $5 million to in MTA taxes.
As part of a plea deal, she was ordered to pay $25,000 in criminal restitution and to cooperate with ongoing investigations by the state Attorney General’s office relating to Friedman’s taxi business.
