Ilona Dzhamgarova is a former Brooklyn immigration attorney who was sentenced in May 2023 to two years in federal prison for running an asylum fraud scheme out of her Brighton Beach law firm, and was disbarred in New York later that year.1U.S. Department of Justice. Brooklyn Attorneys Sentenced for Asylum Fraud Scheme She operated the Dzhamgarova Firm, which served clients from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and had been admitted to the New York bar on June 26, 2007.2NY Courts. Matter of Dzhamgarova, 2023-02540 Her husband, Arthur Arcadian, also an immigration attorney at the firm, and a firm writer named Igor Reznik were charged alongside her.
What the Scheme Involved
Between roughly November 2018 and December 2021, Dzhamgarova and her two co-defendants submitted fraudulent Form I-589 asylum applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on behalf of clients from Russia and former Soviet states.3U.S. Department of Justice. Attorneys and Associate of Immigration Law Firm Plead Guilty to Participating in Asylum Fraud Scheme The central tactic was coaching clients who were not LGBTQ+ to claim they were, and to say they had been persecuted at home because of their sexual orientation.
The fabrication went well beyond the clients’ own statements. Reznik, employed as a writer at the firm, drafted affidavits filled with invented personal histories and made-up incidents of persecution.1U.S. Department of Justice. Brooklyn Attorneys Sentenced for Asylum Fraud Scheme According to the New York disbarment decision, the scheme also produced fake membership cards for LGBTQ+ organizations and false affidavits from people posing as romantic partners.4Findlaw. Matter of Dzhamgarova Clients were then coached to repeat the invented stories under oath in USCIS asylum interviews, with the firm’s lawyers representing them while they testified.3U.S. Department of Justice. Attorneys and Associate of Immigration Law Firm Plead Guilty to Participating in Asylum Fraud Scheme
Then–U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the defendants “invented offensive lies to cheat our country’s asylum process” at a time when LGBTQ+ people across Russia and the former Soviet Union face real persecution.5The Diplomat. Brooklyn Lawyers Abuse Asylum System in Advising Clients to Fraudulently Claim LGBTQ Persecution
Charges and Guilty Plea
Dzhamgarova was charged under a sealed indictment filed on January 26, 2021, and unsealed on February 18, 2021.6CourtListener. United States v. Dzhamgarova, 1:21-cr-00058 On January 25, 2023, she pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil to one count of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1546(a). The charge carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison.3U.S. Department of Justice. Attorneys and Associate of Immigration Law Firm Plead Guilty to Participating in Asylum Fraud Scheme Arcadian pleaded guilty the same day; Reznik had entered his plea earlier, on August 24, 2022.
Her Sentence
On May 31, 2023, Judge Vyskocil sentenced Dzhamgarova to two years in prison, two years of supervised release, forfeiture of $540,000, and a $15,000 fine.1U.S. Department of Justice. Brooklyn Attorneys Sentenced for Asylum Fraud Scheme The Justice Department identified her as the “leader of the scheme” who ran the firm and set its strategy. Arcadian, sentenced the same day, received six months in prison, two years of supervised release, forfeiture of $1,500, and a $5,000 fine. Reznik was sentenced separately on June 16, 2023, to 10 months in prison and two years of supervised release.7CourtListener. United States v. Dzhamgarova, 1:21-cr-00058
Disbarment in New York
Dzhamgarova’s federal conviction triggered automatic disbarment under New York law. On December 27, 2023, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, Second Department, struck her name from the roll of attorneys on motion of the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts.2NY Courts. Matter of Dzhamgarova, 2023-02540
The court found her federal conviction for conspiracy to commit immigration fraud “essentially similar” to the New York felony of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree under Penal Law § 175.35, which required automatic disbarment under Judiciary Law § 90(4)(a). She opposed the motion, arguing her conduct amounted to a less serious offense, but the court rejected that position, writing that she “did not merely agree to commit immigration fraud; she admitted to actually submitting applications with false affidavits.”2NY Courts. Matter of Dzhamgarova, 2023-02540 The disbarment was made retroactive to January 25, 2023, the date of her guilty plea.4Findlaw. Matter of Dzhamgarova