KING COUNTY, Wash. — On Wednesday, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against a Seattle business and its owner over “deceptive promises” to help immigrants from Brazil with their immigration needs.
According to the lawsuit, Ana Carline Pinto do Nascimento, who owns ACN & Associates, LLC, targeted Portuguese-speaking immigrants and promised “to help them with legal assistance for immigration needs, then later abandoning them in courtrooms after charging thousands of dollars.”
However, court papers state Nascimento offered the services without a license as she is not an attorney and does not have an educational background in law.
Ferguson said she would tell families she would represent them in immigration courts but would never appear in any courts, refusing to refund any money.
The AG’s office said that it received complaints about Nascimento’s conduct and estimated that approximately two dozen people sought her help as most agreed to pay a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for immigration assistance.
In the lawsuit, it said that Nascimento charges up to $6,000 for asylum petitions, according to a release from the AG.
“Ana Nascimento preys on immigrants’ hopes to find asylum or work in our state, then abandons them when they need her most — when they’re standing before an immigration judge,” Ferguson said. “She deprived dozens of families of a qualified advocate, and cheated them out of their hard-earned money. My team will prosecute immigration scammers exploiting families who simply want to live and work in Washington state.”
The AG’s office is seeking restitution for the families and civil penalties as the lawsuit was filed in King County Superior Court.
Ferguson argues that Nascimento violated the Immigration Services Fraud Prevention Act because she is not an attorney in Washington, does not have any accreditations to represent people in any immigration court and she and her business are violating the Consumer Protection Act by marketing and selling legal services in a deceptive way.
According to the release, Nascimento’s business website once advertised services as “expertise you can rely on” that offered “immigration law you can understand.”