FBI: Man convicted of posing as attorney caught doing it again
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 6/11/2009 | Resource: MLG
FBI: Man convicted of posing as attorney caught doing it again
“Harold Goldstein, imprisoned several years for impersonating immigration lawyer, arrested again after ads on Craigslist.”
NEWPORT BEACH About a month after Harold Goldstein completed a multiple-year prison sentence for posing as a Newport Beach immigration attorney, he’s back in federal custody after advertising for the same services on Craigslist, FBI officials say.
The FBI arrested Goldstein in his Hollywood home on Sunday after they found a Craigslist advertisement he placed soliciting law students for the same activity that he was convicted for in 2005, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
More than four years ago, Goldstein admitted to misrepresenting himself as an attorney, setting up a Newport Beach law firm, and wreaking havoc on at least 60 cases, including deportation hearings.
He was sentenced to about 13 years in prison on perjury and fraud charges. His sentence was eventually lessened because of an appeal.
Goldstein, who is being held at a Los Angeles federal detention facility, was on supervised release when officials said he violated the terms imposed by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter.
“He could not represent himself as an attorney or could not engage in legal work or solicit fees for legal work and that is what he is alleged to have done,” Eimiller said.
Goldstein is scheduled to appear June 22 at U.S. District court in Santa Ana. He is being held without bail.
In court in 2005, Goldstein admitted to fraud and deceit and criminal convictions that go back decades.
At the time of his 2002 arrest, he ran a Newport Beach law firm that employed a staff of 12, including three licensed lawyers.
Goldstein’s criminal record dates back to the 1970s and includes a gold bullion scam, writing bad checks out of a bank destroyed in a West Indies volcanic eruption, passing checks drawn on a fictional bank in England, and selling nonexistent securities, according to testimony at his 2005 sentencing hearing.
At the same hearing, he maintained that his law clients received good service.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com