Former Manhattan Civil Court Judge Salvador Collazo was arrested early yesterday morning by federal authorities for a conspiracy to commit visa fraud and overcharge clients.

Mr. Collazo, a Bronx-based immigration practitioner who was removed from the bench in 1998 for passing a lewd note about a female law intern and then lying about it to a judicial screening committee, was arrested shortly after 6 a.m. He is accused of filing false statements with immigration authorities and bilking aliens with excessive fees.