Arlington Resident Charged With Defrauding Clients Of $700K: Officials

ARLINGTON, VA — An Arlington resident was charged on Friday with falsely posing as an immigration lawyer and defrauding her clients of about $700,000, according to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury.

Patricia De Oliveira Souza Lelis Bolin, 29, a Brazilian national who lives in Arlington, was not in police custody as of Jan. 12, when the indictment was unsealed, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to the indictment, Lelis Bolin posed as an immigration lawyer able to help foreign clients obtain E-2 and EB-5 visas to the United States, according to the indictment. The EB-5 program provides lawful permanent residency, and possible citizenship, if a foreign national invests substantial funds —typically, a minimum of $1 million — in qualifying job-creating enterprises in the United States.

Lelis Bolin on Sept. 22, 2021 sent a legal retainer agreement to a victim for help in obtaining EB-5 visas for the victim’s parents, the indictment said. The victim made two initial payments totaling more than $135,000 based on Lelis Bolin’s representation that the money was going into a Texas real estate development project that qualified for the EB-5 program, according to the indictment.

Rather than investing the money as promised, Lelis Bolin used it for a down payment on her Arlington townhouse, bathroom renovations, and paying other personal expenses, such as credit card debt, the indictment said.

To cover up the scheme and to obtain more money, Lelis Bolin provided a victim with a fabricated U.S. District Court pleading with a false case number showing her as the litigating attorney, according to the indictment. But Lelis Bolin is not a licensed attorney.

Lelis Bolin is also alleged to have falsified U.S. immigration forms, forged multiple signatures, and created fake receipts from the Texas investment project, all of which she emailed to a victim. She also created false personas associated with the Texas investment fund and sent emails from those individuals to try to obtain even more money, according to the indictment.

The indictment said Lelis Bolin convinced friends to pose as employees of the Texas investment fund in phone calls and video calls with a victim. When a victim finally refused to send her any more money, Lelis Bolin threatened the victim’s parents with removal from the United States and then referred them to a collections agency, the indictment said.

Lelis Bolin is charged with wire fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, and aggravated identity theft. Lelis Bolin faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if she is convicted of engaging in wire fraud, a maximum of 10 years if convicted of unlawful monetary transactions, and a mandatory minimum of two additional years in prison if she is convicted of aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Members of the public with information about the whereabouts of Lelis Bolin can contact the FBI’s Washington Field Office at 202-278-2000 or the FBI’s tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).