"Are You Ready for Your Perp-Walk?"

Reckless Hiring of Illegal Aliens
Leads to Serious Federal Prison Time

 

Dallas, TX - October 30, 2007  David Marlett, JD, CPA, and Executive
Director of  <http://www.proamericacompanies.com/> ProAmerica Companies,
today broadcast a serious warning to all employers of illegal aliens and
their professional consultants:  federal felony convictions may be in your
near future if you hire illegal aliens or conspire to assist the employer in
the hiring of illegal aliens.  "Every employer, accountant and attorney in
America had better sit up and take notice, unless they want their kids
visiting them in prison for a few years," said Marlett.

 

Saleem Khanani was an owner of a group of Florida retail stores, and David
Portlock was his accountant.  Khanani employed a significant number of
illegal aliens at his stores and Portlock arranged Khanani's business
structure to help hide that fact.  After a 2002 ICE raid, a federal grand
jury indicted Khanani, Portlock and others on 71 counts for offenses
relating to Khanani's employment of illegal aliens and related failures to
pay state and federal taxes.  The government also sought the forfeiture of
any assets the defendants had obtained through their crimes.  At the trial,
Khanani's primary defense was that he merely employed undocumented workers,
which rose to no higher than a misdemeanor offense.  During the
cross-examination of Portlock, he admitted that he believed Khanani employed
the illegal aliens to gain a competitive advantage.  The jury found that the
defendants acted "knowingly" and "willfully" in the employment of the
illegal aliens - meaning "voluntarily and intentionally.not because of
mistake or accident.and with the intent to do something the law forbids."
Furthermore the defendants acted with "reckless disregard" that the
employees were illegal aliens, and through such employment they "harbored
and shielded" the illegal aliens, thus facilitating them remaining in the
United States illegally.  Khanani was sentenced to almost 6 years in federal
prison, and Portlock to 2 years.

 

In a ruling handed down just a few weeks ago,
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/11th/0511689p.pdf> United States
v. Khanani, 11th Cir., No. 05-11689 & 05-15014 (Oct. 2, 2007), the federal
appellate court upheld the lower court, agreeing that the defendants'
actions encouraged or induced the illegal immigrants to reside in the United
States or concealed or harbored them.

 

Of enormous significance is the fact that what these defendants did is
common-place throughout America today.  Regardless of his reasons, an
employer who knowingly employs an undocumented worker risks serious personal
liability and penal consequences.  In summary, Marlett said, "The fact that
an employer suspects but doesn't know for certain that an employee or job
candidate lacked authorization to live and work in the United States is no
defense.  In such a case, an employer may be found to have been willfully
blind or reckless as to the status of the employee or job candidate.
Furthermore, an individual (such as the accountant in this case) who has
access to relevant information and participates in a scheme to employ an
undocumented worker and/or cover up his or her employment may also be facing
serious time in federal prison, even if the individual is a mere employee."

 

ProAmerica Companies is a rapidly-growing national, non-profit coalition of
nearly 1,000 American companies and 4,000 individuals across 44 states, all
pledging to uphold the law and put America first in their hiring decisions.
For further information, please visit  <http://www.proamericacompanies.com/>
www.ProAmericaCompanies.com, and/or contact:

 

Gloria Christie
David Marlett, JD

Press Director
Executive Director

ProAmerica Companies
ProAmerica Companies

 <mailto:cougarllc@sbcglobal.net> cougarllc@sbcglobal.net
<mailto:dmarlett@ProAmericaCompanies.com> dmarlett@ProAmericaCompanies.com 

913-831-4624
214-208-2148