Law firm employees indicted on immigration fraud charges

Prosecutors allege that from May 2002 to at least October 2005, Tzeuton and Nzone prepared false applications and supporting information to federal agencies such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Executive Office for Immigration Review. They collected money from the applicants to do so, the affidavit said.

The papers allegedly contained false statements concerning the applicants’ marital and family status, including children; entry dates into the United States; and fear of persecution in the applicant’s home country, according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors also allege that in some cases, Tzeuton and Nzone met with the applicants before their asylum interviews with federal officials and ‘‘coached” them on the false answers to the questions posed by the officials, the affidavit said.

Efforts to reach Tzeuton and Nzone for comment were unsuccessful.

Harry McKnett, a court-appointed attorney for Tzeuton, declined to comment Monday.

‘‘I just got involved with the case and am beginning to look at the investigation,” he said.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said that since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Custom Enforcement have placed a ‘‘renewed emphasis” on prosecuting immigration fraud.

In 2005, Maqsood Mir, an immigration lawyer practicing in Potomac, was convicted by a federal jury of filing false immigration documents and sentenced to 78 months in prison.

In 2006, Irwin Jay Fredman, a Bethesda attorney, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of conspiring to commit immigration fraud.