US paralegal admits role in smuggling church members
A Los Angeles-based paralegal has admitted her role in preparing and filing fraudulent documents to facilitate legal permanent residency and citizenship in the United States for members of the sect founded by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Maria de Leon, a resident of the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles and the owner of Liberty Legal Document Services, agreed to plead guilty to participating in a scheme with administrators of Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name (KOJC) church.
In a statement posted on its website on Friday, the US Department of Justice said De Leon admitted to her role for about eight years in the conspiracy to commit marriage and visa fraud with KOJC leaders.
According to the plea agreement, the paralegal was aware that the immigration paperwork she submitted on behalf of KOJC members were based on arranged marriages for purposes of securing favorable immigration status.
She also agreed to cooperate in the US government’s labor trafficking case against Quiboloy and other sect leaders.
“The court is expected to soon schedule a hearing for De Leon to formally enter her guilty plea to the conspiracy count. Once she pleads guilty, De Leon will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison,” the US DOJ said.
In response, Quiboloy’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said De Leon is not part of the sect and was “an independent contractor whose company renders paralegal services to the public at large.”
“First, we cannot comment on Ms. Maria de Leon, one of the supposed co-accused Pastor Quiboloy, except to say that she is not a member of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which Pastor Quiboloy heads, and neither is she connected nor affiliated in any way with the KJOC, nor with Pastor Quiboloy officially or personally,” Topacio said in a statement.
“Secondly, under the legal doctrine of res inter alios acta – which is likewise applicable in the courts of the United States – any confession only binds the confessor. Being the act of a third party, it cannot affect Pastor Quiboloy or any other co-accused, nor should it negatively affect the cases against them,” he added.
The lawyer also noted the “possibility of pressure” being brought on De Leon “as part of the pattern of harassment being employed against Pastor Quiboloy and the KJOC in the United States for purely political motives.”
Based on the indictment, KJOC administrators used fraudulent schemes to bring members to the US, who were then forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity. The collections were then supposedly used to finance sect operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.
De Leon was among the nine individuals charged over the scheme, which also included Quiboloy and other top administrators of his group.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier released wanted posters for Quiboloy, Teresita Dandan and Helen Panilag, who are all believed to be in the Philippines.