![\"Justin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/95ffa778-5e95-4091-a1d0-21b59f3a8f6f_1727473118.png\")
<\/a>ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\nA company in Orange County claimed it could help immigrants get legal status in the United States, but investigators said it was a fake law firm that would falsify documents and shake down victims.<\/p>\n
U.S. Attorney Greg Kehoe from the Middle District of Florida announced on Monday that 13 foreign nationals from Brazil and Cuba are facing federal charges in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and immigrant victims.<\/p>\n
“The message was deliberate and unmistakable: pay Legacy or lose access to critical paperwork and the chance to remain in the United States,” Kehoe said.<\/p>\n
According to court records, Legacy Imigra Solutions would falsify documents to fraudulently obtain immigration status and benefits for their clients. <\/p>\n
Kehoe said many of the victims were from Brazil. That\u2019s also the country of origin for several of the defendants. <\/p>\n
“They were trying to go through the immigration process the right way by hiring a lawyer and getting the services and filing the documents,\u201d Kehoe said. \u201cIt was the people at Legacy that engaged in the fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in April, Orange County Sheriff John Mina announced the arrest of four people from Legacy on state charges of racketeering, organized fraud and extortion. <\/p>\n
That sting included the arrest of the owner, Vagner de Almeida. <\/p>\n
He now faces multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States in the newly unsealed federal indictment. <\/p>\n
“Our detectives worked in conjunction, along with Homeland Security, to dismantle this criminal enterprise, which has amassed millions of dollars by exploiting victims and their fear of removal from the United States,” Mina said.<\/p>\n
OCSO has recovered nearly $1.7 million belonging to about 200 victims, Mina said.<\/p>\n
“We know that there may be more out there, so if you’re hearing this, please contact us,” the sheriff added.<\/p>\n
The federal agencies represented in Orlando Monday say they remain vigilant against suspicious activity in the immigration system. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Legacy Imigra criminal enterprise sold a path to stay in America, and willing customers paid for it,\u201d said Nathan Stiefel, deputy associate director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fraud Detection & National Security Directorate. \u201cBut America’s immigration system is not for sale. Lawful status must be earned. USCIS will continue to use every tool at our disposal to dismantle criminal operations and ensure engaging in fraud always has consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleven of the 13 defendants made their first appearance before a federal judge on Monday, Kehoe said.<\/p>\n
If convicted, those charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud could face up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. attorney called it a “conspiracy to defraud the United States” ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[692,19307,3362,173455,1327,7025,173454,1387,7206,95294,53643,217,139,141,140,992,4571,6411],"class_list":["post-445658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-arrest","tag-brazil","tag-conspiracy","tag-criminal-enterprise","tag-document","tag-federal-charge","tag-foreign-national","tag-fraud","tag-immigrant","tag-kehoe","tag-legacy","tag-monday","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-people","tag-united-states","tag-victim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}