Fraudulent immigration consultant gets 7-year jail sentence for bilking thousands from clients

A Toronto woman convicted of bilking tens of thousands of dollars from multiple clients in a fraudulent immigration scheme over three years was given a seven-year jail termon Tuesday.

Angelina Codina, 60, was found guilty by a jury of five offences under the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Actin November 2017. Due to time already served in custody,Codina'sjail term amounts to five years.

An Ontario Superior Court judge also ordered Codinato pay just over $30,000 to four former clients from whomshe took money.

She is planning to appeal the sentence.

Codina was convicted of four counts of advising clients on immigration matters without proper authorization and one count of misrepresenting facts on an immigration application.

TheCrownasserted thatCodina "deliberately targeted" 10 vulnerable people as afraudulent immigration consultant between September 2011and January 2014, making"false promises" that she'd help their relatives immigrate to Canada.

Crown prosecutorLyndaTreflerhadaskedthe Ontario Superior Courtto sentenceCodinato11 years in prison andissue a fine of $100,000. The victims would be paid$30,200 eachasrestitution.

A two-year sentence is themaximum penalty for unlawfully advising people on immigration matters, and three years is the maximum for lying on an immigration application. Due to the seriousness of these offences,the Crownrecommendedthe sentence for each count be served consecutively.

"Codina'sbehaviour not only affected the victims, but also impacted the immigration system and society at large," Treflersaid in February.

She added that Codina profited"substantially"from the crimes and her conduct demonstrated a "continuing pattern" of exploiting vulnerable people.

Codina, who was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency in May 2014 and represented herself during the trial, has maintained her innocence on all counts.

Codina obtained her Canadian law licencein 1983 and has swindled multiple people in the past.

She was suspended from practising in Ontario after she was convicted of fraud and the falsification of books for stealing $20,000 from the province's legal aid plan in 1997. She was disbarred by the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2002.

Then in 2000, ajury convicted Codina of grandlarcenyin New York State for practisinglaw without a licence and failing to provide services to 11 paying clients between 1996 and 1999 through her firm called CodinaPartners International in New York City.

She was sentenced to an aggregate term of fiveto 15 yearsin prison, but was released onparolein November 2009.

Some people thought they were dealing with a lawyer.- Lynda Trefler, Crown attorney

Shortly after, according to an agreed statement of facts in the case,she opened an immigration consulting firm in Toronto called CodinaInternational Consultants.

CBCinvestigation finds dozens of frustrated clients

A CBCToronto investigation revealed that dozens of Codina'sclients have successfullytaken her to small claims court for failing to deliver services they had paid for,but she has not paid up.

The Crown contends sheoperated a "sophisticated and well-planned scheme" as an unlicensed immigration consultant.This includedhiringlanguage consultants to meet with potential clients in their own language inorder to gain their trust.

In response, Codinaarguedshe acted only as a conduit between lawyers and immigrants seeking to come to Canada.

But court documents show Codinawas responsible for providing counsel directly to clients despite being disbarred in Ontarionine years earlier.

Federal law requires immigration consultants to take out membership with theImmigration Consultants of Canada Regulator Council. The self-regulated body says Codinanever registered her practice.

"Some people thought they were dealing with a lawyer," Treflertold the court in February.

JalilChitizadeh, a permanent resident of Canada,hired Codinain 2011 to help secure a temporary residencepermit for his daughter, Sara, and grandson. Court documents revealSara claimed refugee status in Mexico after fleeing Iran "in fear for her life," but sought asylum in Canada to be closer to her family.

"Codinaprovided advice and not merely information about immigration programs," the verdict read."The advice was tailored to the particular circumstances of Sara Chitizadeh, rather than being general in nature."

Codina'sbehaviour not only affected the victims, but also impacted the immigration system and society at large.- Lynda Trefler, Crown attorney

The following year, SohailaAhmadi and her husband, Mahjub, paid Codina$11,000 to bring her sister and her familyto Canada. Theywere refugees in Pakistan after fleeing their home in Afghanistan.

Mahjub testified he "lost confidence" in Codinaand decided to seek new counsel after discovering"significant" errors in the applications for temporary resident permits for his relatives. "The names were completely wrong," he said.

NikolaosMouzos, a Greek citizen,paid Codina$7,500 in 2012 to process his immigration application to be closer to his sister. Superior Court Justice Anne Molloyfound some evidence that Codina"personally offered to represent Mr. Mouzosin his immigration proceeding."