Chester County woman charged by superseding indictment with allegedly running years-long immigration fraud scheme, committing tax evasion

Date: Jan. 23, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Fatima DeMaria of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, was charged by superseding indictment with eight counts of asylum fraud, eight counts of mail fraud, and four counts of tax evasion. DeMaria was the owner and operator of Immigration Matters Legal Services, located in Oxford, Pa.

The superseding indictment alleges that the defendant falsely represented herself to clients and prospective clients as an immigration attorney who could help undocumented aliens obtain employment authorization or “work permits.” However, DeMaria was neither a licensed attorney, nor accredited or authorized by the Executive Office for Immigration Review to represent individuals in immigration proceedings.

As alleged, from at least December 2021 to July 2024, DeMaria prepared, and caused to be prepared, fraudulent Form I-589 asylum applications in her clients’ names, without their knowledge or consent, knowingly making, and aiding and abetting the making of, false and material misstatements in the I-589 asylum applications.

For example, the defendant caused to be stated on each asylum application that the applicant was “seeking asylum or withholding of removal” based on “political opinion” and “Torture Convention.” Her clients, however, were not seeking asylum based on either of these categories and never informed DeMaria or anyone at Immigration Matters Legal Services of facts that could make them eligible for asylum under either of these categories.

According to the superseding indictment, DeMaria placed, and caused to be placed, her clients’ signatures on the Form I-589 asylum applications, certifying under penalty of perjury that the applications and supporting evidence were true and correct, again without her clients’ knowledge or consent.

The superseding indictment further alleges that the defendant, and those acting at her direction, failed to advise clients that the mechanism through which she would help them obtain work permits from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was by filing frivolous Form I-589 asylum applications. Nor did the defendant advise clients that, if the asylum applications filed on their behalf were rejected or referred by USCIS, it would result in their being placed in removal proceedings, at which point the filing of the baseless asylum application could jeopardize their eligibility for future immigration benefits.

According to the superseding indictment, DeMaria charged her clients approximately $6,000-$9,000 per individual, and $12,000-$15,000 per couple, for her purported legal services in conjunction with their applications. As alleged in the superseding indictment, she also frequently had her clients pay her in cash or peer-to-peer transactions that were deposited into her personal bank accounts, hundreds of thousands of dollars of which were withdrawn at casinos.

Finally, the superseding indictment alleges that the defendant willfully attempted to evade and defeat a large part of her income tax due and owing by her and her husband to the United States of America for calendar years 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 through various means, including the failure to report substantial business income from Immigration Matters Legal Services in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings; deposits of significant amounts of business funds, consisting of lmmigration Matters Legal Services’ gross receipts, into DeMaria’s personal bank accounts; and concealing amounts of DeMaria’s true and correct income, and the frequency with which she deposited money, by structuring cash deposits into her personal and business bank accounts.

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 260 years’ imprisonment and a $5 million fine. The government is also seeking forfeiture of the defendant’s alleged ill-gotten earnings, which are alleged to be at least $1 million.

This case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. USCIS, the Diplomatic Security Service, and the Coast Guard Investigative Service provided assistance. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sara Solow and Eileen Castilla Geiger.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.