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FRENCH COMPANY FOUND GUILTY OF VISA FRAUD
A French hair salon chain, Jacques Dessange, Inc., has been convicted of fraud in obtaining visas for hair stylists to work in US branches.  According to the US attorneys prosecuting the case, the company felt that its image in the US would be enhanced if the salons were staffed with French rather than American workers.  Along with the French business, Howard Deutsch, a US immigration attorney, was also convicted of visa fraud and withholding evidence after the INS began investigating. 
The hair stylists received L-1 visas, which are designed for the transfer of employees of a foreign company to a US branch.  The employee must be either management level or possess specialized skills or knowledge of the company’s business.  The visas were investigated because the positions in which the French nationals were placed were not executive level.  Also, many of the positions the INS was told would be filled did not, in fact, exist. 
The government’s prosecution was made easier after the law partner of the attorney who was convicted pled guilty in January, and then testified for the government at the trial.  Her testimony led to the conviction of Deutsch on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and of obstructing an INS investigation. 
The court is scheduled to sentence the defendants in July.  Jacques Dessange faces fines of up to  million.  Deutsch faces five years in prison for each of the following convictions – conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of an INS investigation – and faces up to 10 years for the obstruction of justice charge.  He also faces possible fines.