A former attorney who made money by creating phony advanced degrees for immigrants seeking employment visas in the United States was ordered to serve 27 months in prison Thursday.
Richard Kassel ran a solo immigration practice and focused on employment-based visas until 2014, when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, conceding that he made $187,000 over a six-year period while submitting some 47 fraudulent diplomas, mostly on behalf of Eastern European clients.