A Baltimore couple and their company were ordered to pay back $616,000 to Spanish-speaking immigrants for immigration services that they were neither qualified nor authorized to provide, the Federal Trade Commission announced last week.
A federal judge in Maryland ordered Manuel Alban, his wife Lola Alban and Loma International Business Group to refund the money after they targeted immigrants from El Salvador and Honduras. They claimed they could help fill out citizenship applications, but the FTC noted more than 60 percent of the applications were denied.
According to the FTC, the Alban's customers "suffered severely" for relying on their services. Several were deported and one was arrested and jailed for almost 11 months, the FTC said.
