Date: March 10, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago businessman has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly providing false and fraudulent information to U.S. authorities to obtain immigration benefits for his foreign national clients.
Jose Gregorio Sosa Cardona operated Delta Global Solutions, Inc., which assisted individuals in applying for asylum, immigrant visas, lawful permanent residence cards, and other immigration benefits. From 2020 to 2024, Sosa Cardona conspired with two employees of his firm and others to knowingly provide false and fraudulent information to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on behalf of his foreign national clients who were seeking benefits, according to an indictment unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The indictment accuses Sosa Cardona of, among other things, fabricating foreign law enforcement reports and foreign political party membership letters to falsely corroborate his clients’ asylum claims. Sosa Cardona also falsely represented to U.S. immigration officials that he was an attorney licensed to practice law in Ohio, when, in fact, he was not an attorney and not authorized to represent applicants in immigration proceedings before the USCIS, the indictment states.
Sosa Cardona of Downers Grove, Ill., is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and commit immigration fraud, four counts of falsifying applications for immigration benefits, and two counts of making a false statement to the USCIS. Sosa Cardona was arrested this morning. He was arraigned this afternoon in federal court in Chicago and pleaded not guilty to the charges. A detention hearing is scheduled for March 12, 2025, at 1 p.m.
The indictment was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office, Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent-in-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago, and Ruth Mendonça, Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Valuable assistance was provided by the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Snell.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Each count of falsifying immigration applications is punishable by up to ten years in federal prison, while the conspiracy and false statement counts each carry a maximum sentence of five years.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative 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 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.