Benefactor of Caribbean Immigrants Is Accused of Defrauding Them
By MANNY FERNANDEZ and SARAH GARLAND
Published: May 1, 2006
[Execerpt of article found at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/nyregion/01garifuna.html?_r=1&oref=slogin]
For years, the Garifuna people came to Southern Boulevard to mourn their past. Then they started going there for another reason, not out of grief but pride. They came to see Maria Elena Maximo.
On March 25, 1990, a fire at the Happy Land Social Club killed 87 people, at least half of whom were Garifuna, a small Central American ethnic group that has struggled to maintain its identity and traditions in this city of immigrants. The building, at 1959 Southern Boulevard, remains standing today, a reminder of one of the deadliest arson cases and mass murders in New York City history, and hallowed ground for the Garifuna.
Ms. Maximo, 53, is one of them, and a few years ago she set up a small storefront about a block away. She established herself as an advocate for the Garifuna and other immigrants, helping them prepare and file their immigration papers and offering English, computer and other classes as president of a nonprofit group.
When she discovered that the Garifuna were having trouble attracting grants without an accurate count of their numbers, Ms. Maximo made plans to conduct a census. She offered to help clean the granite monument erected on a traffic island in honor of Happy Land victims and was given a key to its gate by the City Parks and Recreation Department. In March, she paid tribute to the victims at an event recognizing the 16th anniversary of the fire.
Nine days later, she was under arrest, accused of defrauding the immigrants who looked up to her as a leader.
On Southern Boulevard and in other parts of the Bronx, there is now confusion and anger. "It hurts a lot as a Garifuna to hear this," said Elena Gutierrez, 28, a Honduran immigrant who took G.E.D. classes at Ms. Maximo's storefront. "It's very hard when something like this happens. Now no one will believe in anyone anymore."
Ms. Maximo was arrested in connection with a scheme to charge illegal immigrants $500 to $2,500 each to apply for work permits and green cards for which they were not eligible. State and federal prosecutors said she submitted more than 1,300 fraudulent applications in 2004 and 2005, receiving an estimated $1 million from her customers.
Most of these immigrants were seeking documents through a federal amnesty and legalization program. The authorities said Ms. Maximo misrepresented the program, telling her clients that to qualify, they had to have been in the country for just a few years — 4, 5, or 10 years. But the program was closed to anyone who entered the United States after 1981.
Many of Ms. Maximo's clients never got a green card. Many never got their money back. In a cruel twist, faulty applications filed by Ms. Maximo led to deportation proceedings for a few clients.
After her arrest, someone scrawled "ladrón," Spanish for "thief," on the door of her Harrison Avenue apartment.
"I thought it was good stuff, but she was just faking it," said Scarly Joseph, a 26-year-old day care provider from Haiti, who said she paid Ms. Maximo $2,000 to file a green card application for her after she overstayed her tourist visa. Ms. Joseph earns $250 a week and used all her savings and borrowed from a friend to pay the $2,000. She is still waiting to hear about the status of her application. "I worked so hard for that money," she said, "and I don't know how I'm going to get that money back."
Ms. Maximo was charged with two counts of mail fraud and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count. Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney in Manhattan, announced the arrest on April 4, the same day State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against her alleging fraud. Ms. Maximo, who was released on bond after her arrest, declined to comment, saying her lawyer advised her to do so. "Believe me, I would like to spill my guts," she said. "We have nothing to hide."
Of the more than 1,300 applications Ms. Maximo filed, some have been denied and others are in the process of being denied, the authorities said. But some immigrants said in interviews that they did receive green cards after Ms. Maximo filed their paperwork.
Court documents identify at least three cases in which faulty claims for asylum and legalization filed by Ms. Maximo led to deportation hearings. Details about the outcome of those proceedings were not available.
In one of those cases, a man from Trinidad said he paid Ms. Maximo nearly $1,400 for work permits for him and his wife. Ms. Maximo had applied for political asylum on their behalf without their knowledge, he said. As a result, his wife was ordered to leave the country in January. "I just wanted my money's worth, as they say," he said. "Nothing came out of it. Only bad, no good," said the man, who was granted anonymity because of his illegal status.
allegations have shocked many Caribbean and Central American immigrants, from whom Ms. Maximo drew many of her clients. They say the charges amount to a kind of breach of trust, as illegal immigrants, often suspicious of outsiders and the government, turned to Ms. Maximo, herself an immigrant from Honduras, for help in becoming citizens. "It's difficult to believe," said Evelin Milla, 19, a Honduran immigrant who studied at the storefront on Southern Boulevard and considered Ms. Maximo a friend. "But with experience comes betrayal."
Still, among the Garifuna, descendants of West African slaves and Arawak Indians from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent who were forcibly relocated to Central America by the British, there are those who believe she is innocent.
"If you asked me if Ms. Maximo would cheat people out of a million dollars, I would say no," said Mark Ford, a Garifuna who lives in the Bronx and has known Ms. Maximo for four years. "I would trust her with my relatives. Not just friends, but my relatives."
A spokesman for the Parks Department said Ms. Maximo volunteered to spruce up the Happy Land monument, which is ringed by buckets of drooping yellow flowers and silk lilies. After being given a key to the memorial's red-painted gate, she changed the locks without the department's permission, the spokesman said. Those locks have since been replaced.
The Happy Land fire was started by a Cuban refugee who was thrown out of the club after arguing with his ex-girlfriend. He returned with a plastic jug filled with a dollar's worth of gasoline and set fire to the door. Most of the victims were trapped and asphyxiated on the crowded second floor.
A cousin of Ms. Maximo lost his son in the fire. Another cousin, Antonieta Maximo, the former consul general of Honduras in New York, helped get the Happy Land monument built.
Maria Gale, who lost her daughter and five other relatives in the fire, and Isabel Nunez, who lost her two younger brothers, said they were outraged that Ms. Maximo had received the key to the memorial gate. They said a relative of one of the victims should have been given the key, and were skeptical of Ms. Maximo's eagerness to help them.
By MANNY FERNANDEZ and SARAH GARLAND
Published: May 1, 2006
[Execerpt of article found at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/nyregion/01garifuna.html?_r=1&oref=slogin]
For years, the Garifuna people came to Southern Boulevard to mourn their past. Then they started going there for another reason, not out of grief but pride. They came to see Maria Elena Maximo.
On March 25, 1990, a fire at the Happy Land Social Club killed 87 people, at least half of whom were Garifuna, a small Central American ethnic group that has struggled to maintain its identity and traditions in this city of immigrants. The building, at 1959 Southern Boulevard, remains standing today, a reminder of one of the deadliest arson cases and mass murders in New York City history, and hallowed ground for the Garifuna.
Ms. Maximo, 53, is one of them, and a few years ago she set up a small storefront about a block away. She established herself as an advocate for the Garifuna and other immigrants, helping them prepare and file their immigration papers and offering English, computer and other classes as president of a nonprofit group.
When she discovered that the Garifuna were having trouble attracting grants without an accurate count of their numbers, Ms. Maximo made plans to conduct a census. She offered to help clean the granite monument erected on a traffic island in honor of Happy Land victims and was given a key to its gate by the City Parks and Recreation Department. In March, she paid tribute to the victims at an event recognizing the 16th anniversary of the fire.
Nine days later, she was under arrest, accused of defrauding the immigrants who looked up to her as a leader.
On Southern Boulevard and in other parts of the Bronx, there is now confusion and anger. "It hurts a lot as a Garifuna to hear this," said Elena Gutierrez, 28, a Honduran immigrant who took G.E.D. classes at Ms. Maximo's storefront. "It's very hard when something like this happens. Now no one will believe in anyone anymore."
Ms. Maximo was arrested in connection with a scheme to charge illegal immigrants $500 to $2,500 each to apply for work permits and green cards for which they were not eligible. State and federal prosecutors said she submitted more than 1,300 fraudulent applications in 2004 and 2005, receiving an estimated $1 million from her customers.
Most of these immigrants were seeking documents through a federal amnesty and legalization program. The authorities said Ms. Maximo misrepresented the program, telling her clients that to qualify, they had to have been in the country for just a few years — 4, 5, or 10 years. But the program was closed to anyone who entered the United States after 1981.
Many of Ms. Maximo's clients never got a green card. Many never got their money back. In a cruel twist, faulty applications filed by Ms. Maximo led to deportation proceedings for a few clients.
After her arrest, someone scrawled "ladrón," Spanish for "thief," on the door of her Harrison Avenue apartment.
"I thought it was good stuff, but she was just faking it," said Scarly Joseph, a 26-year-old day care provider from Haiti, who said she paid Ms. Maximo $2,000 to file a green card application for her after she overstayed her tourist visa. Ms. Joseph earns $250 a week and used all her savings and borrowed from a friend to pay the $2,000. She is still waiting to hear about the status of her application. "I worked so hard for that money," she said, "and I don't know how I'm going to get that money back."
Ms. Maximo was charged with two counts of mail fraud and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count. Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney in Manhattan, announced the arrest on April 4, the same day State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against her alleging fraud. Ms. Maximo, who was released on bond after her arrest, declined to comment, saying her lawyer advised her to do so. "Believe me, I would like to spill my guts," she said. "We have nothing to hide."
Of the more than 1,300 applications Ms. Maximo filed, some have been denied and others are in the process of being denied, the authorities said. But some immigrants said in interviews that they did receive green cards after Ms. Maximo filed their paperwork.
Court documents identify at least three cases in which faulty claims for asylum and legalization filed by Ms. Maximo led to deportation hearings. Details about the outcome of those proceedings were not available.
In one of those cases, a man from Trinidad said he paid Ms. Maximo nearly $1,400 for work permits for him and his wife. Ms. Maximo had applied for political asylum on their behalf without their knowledge, he said. As a result, his wife was ordered to leave the country in January. "I just wanted my money's worth, as they say," he said. "Nothing came out of it. Only bad, no good," said the man, who was granted anonymity because of his illegal status.
allegations have shocked many Caribbean and Central American immigrants, from whom Ms. Maximo drew many of her clients. They say the charges amount to a kind of breach of trust, as illegal immigrants, often suspicious of outsiders and the government, turned to Ms. Maximo, herself an immigrant from Honduras, for help in becoming citizens. "It's difficult to believe," said Evelin Milla, 19, a Honduran immigrant who studied at the storefront on Southern Boulevard and considered Ms. Maximo a friend. "But with experience comes betrayal."
Still, among the Garifuna, descendants of West African slaves and Arawak Indians from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent who were forcibly relocated to Central America by the British, there are those who believe she is innocent.
"If you asked me if Ms. Maximo would cheat people out of a million dollars, I would say no," said Mark Ford, a Garifuna who lives in the Bronx and has known Ms. Maximo for four years. "I would trust her with my relatives. Not just friends, but my relatives."
A spokesman for the Parks Department said Ms. Maximo volunteered to spruce up the Happy Land monument, which is ringed by buckets of drooping yellow flowers and silk lilies. After being given a key to the memorial's red-painted gate, she changed the locks without the department's permission, the spokesman said. Those locks have since been replaced.
The Happy Land fire was started by a Cuban refugee who was thrown out of the club after arguing with his ex-girlfriend. He returned with a plastic jug filled with a dollar's worth of gasoline and set fire to the door. Most of the victims were trapped and asphyxiated on the crowded second floor.
A cousin of Ms. Maximo lost his son in the fire. Another cousin, Antonieta Maximo, the former consul general of Honduras in New York, helped get the Happy Land monument built.
Maria Gale, who lost her daughter and five other relatives in the fire, and Isabel Nunez, who lost her two younger brothers, said they were outraged that Ms. Maximo had received the key to the memorial gate. They said a relative of one of the victims should have been given the key, and were skeptical of Ms. Maximo's eagerness to help them.
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