A Los Angeles-based paralegal has admitted her involvement in alleged fraudulent activities related to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name (KOJC) church headed by Apollo Carreon Quiboloy.
The announcement was made through a press release issued by the United States Attorney's Office of the Central District of California on Friday, April 1, through the Department of Justice (DOJ) website.
In the plea agreement filed at the United States District Court, Maria de Leon, 73, said that she participated in the scheme for around eight years by processing fraudulent marriage and immigration documents for the members of the KOJC, through her company, Liberty Legal Document Services.
“At the time completed the immigration paperwork for certain KOJC members, knew that the immigration paperwork was based upon false representations of the bona fides of the underlying marriages made by church officials," the statement said.
"De Leon admitted to submitting fraudulent “Petitions for Alien Relative” and related paperwork on behalf of KOJC members knowing or believing that the marriages were arranged for purposes of securing favorable immigration status for a spouse," the statement added.
An indictment was filed in November 2021, alleging the existence of labor trafficking, and the use of fraudulent visas by the KOJC.
It added that church members were soliciting donations for a fake charity, the Children's Joy Foundation (CJF), based in Glendale, California.
Successful solicitors for the church, who were called CJF volunteers or "Full Time Miracle Workers" were forced into sham marriages and fake student visas to acquire legal status to travel in the country and continue their activities.
The DOJ said once a hearing is conducted and she pleads guilty, De Leon "will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison".
De Leon was one of nine individuals indicted in November 2021 for the case, and one of the six who were arrested. The FBI said the remaining three are believed to be in the Philippines.
The indictment also referred to an alleged sex trafficking scheme, implicating leader Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who called himself as "The Appointed Son of God".
On Feb. 5, Quiboloy was put in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Wanted List, citing his alleged involvement in "sex trafficking of women and children, conspiracy, and cash smuggling".