The pattern of unenforcement [of immigration laws] and the factors supporting it suggest that public officials hold mixed motives that impair [] enforcement. A traditional solution to problems of agency capture, or even agency inefficiency, is to deputize private enforcers. Policymakers can change the unenforcement dynamic if they enable those most harmed by illegal employment to participate in enforcement. Congress has created an opportunity for deputization in recent amendments to [RICO], and courts should develop the doctrine to support its use.

118 Harvard Law Review 2224, 2245 (May 2005)

Current Cases

Individual Cases of Interest

Cohen v. Cohen

This is a RICO lawsuit brought by Patricia Cohen, former wife of Steven A. Cohen, principal of SAC Capital, one of the largest hedge funds on Wall Street. The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Cohen hid millions of dollars of their marital assets during their divorce and perpetrated other RICO violations. The District Court dismissed the suit but we are optimistic about our prospects for reversal in light of the February 2012 oral argument before a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
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Trustees Goldsmith and Baldiga v. Massad et al.

Foster PC has been appointed as Special Counsel to the Bankruptcy Trustee in In re Nicholas J. Fiorillo No. 10-44179-MSH and In re Tracy L Krowel No. 11-43854 MSH, (D. Mass.) to pursue RICO claims against persons who allegedly extorted money and property from the debtor (and their entities) in loan transactions. The damages are estimated to be over six million dollars.
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Hourani v. Mirtchev and Krull Corporation.

Foster PC, along with Co-Counsel Crowell & Moring, LLP of Washington D.C., represents Devincci and Issam Hourani, former Kazakhstan nationals, in a RICO suit alleging a conspiracy by the Defendants to extort their considerable business holdings. The suit also alleges that the Defendants illegally laundered the proceeds from their base of operation in Washington D.C. The suit seeks over a hundred million dollars in damages and is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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The Ardash Marderosian Trust v. Governor Patrick Quinn and The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

This case challenges the policy of the University of Illinois (the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois) allowing unauthorized aliens (illegal immigrants) to receive reduced in-state tuition rates. Our challenge to this policy is made pursuant to 8 U.S.C. Section 1623, which forbids providing illegal aliens such benefits unless citizens of every state are equally eligible (which they are not). Plaintiff (The Ardash Marderosian Trust) filed the Complaint in this case on August 27, 2012 to prevent future unauthorized alien students from being eligible for its family music scholarship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Plaintiff The Ardash Marderosian Trust filed the Complaint in this case on August 27, 2012.
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Class Action Cases

Simpson vs. Sanderson Farms, Inc. (Sanderson Farms Class Action)

This is a RICO class action brought against the Sanderson Farms, Inc. and it’s officers and human resource managers/personnel at the Moultrie, Georgia chicken processing plant for knowingly hiring large numbers of illegal aliens at the plant, accepting fake/false documents from them as part of the work authorization verification process, and falsely attesting that these workers presented genuine documents relating to them, from 2008 through the present. The case is brought by two former hourly-paid workers to compensate them (and the putative class) for the “wage depression” (i.e. below market wages) caused by the Defendants’ illegal hiring practices. Read more

Brewer v. Salyer (SK Foods Class Action)

This is a RICO class action brought against Scott Salyer, the former owner of SK Foods, LP (located in Lemore, California), for conspiring to hire illegal aliens. The case is pending in the Eastern District of California. Read more »

Broussard et al. v. Maples et al. (Maples Industries Class Action)

This is a RICO class action brought against the owners, officers and human resource managers at Maples Industries, Inc. (located in Scottsboro, Alabama) for hiring illegal aliens and for falsely attesting on I-9 Forms that illegal aliens presented genuine work authorization documents. This class action is brought on behalf of all the legally authorized, hourly paid workers at Maples Industries, Inc., from 2005 through the present, to compensate them for the “wage depression” (i.e. below market wages) caused by the Defendants’ illegal hiring practices. Read more »