A Connecticut immigration attorney, Sherri B. Paige, has been suspended for one year for threatening to expose his client to the FBI as a terrorist sympathizer after the client hired a different lawyer.  According to Law.com, Paige told the client he needed to get life insurance and recommended her husband without informing the client of their relationship.  At her presentment hearing, Paige told the court that she was never hired by the client, and presented forged documents.  However, she filed immigration papers that stated she was, in fact, his attorney.  At the hearing, the judge said that if she is not his attorney, then she committed fraud on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The client first brought complaints against the immigration attorney in May 2002, after USCIS rejected his application because it contained the wrong paperwork.  The client hired another attorney after Paige refused to refund the $1,750 retainer.

The new attorney, Judith Sporn, got his file returned from USCIS.  According to the judge in the presentment hearing, Paige contacted congressmen and immigration officials to report “outrageous” behavior of her former client.  When he told Paige he would file a grievance complaint against her, Paige told Sporn that following through with this intention would gain the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and facilitate identifying the client as a terrorist sympathizer. 

Paige must apply for reinstatement and achieve a passing score on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam to get her law license back.