lawyer information

the number food stamp fraudinvestigations and prosecutions in new york city has reached a peak number if you are investigated for food stampfraud in new york and you want answers stay with me. my name is alice lee i'm attorney at the law office ofjoseph potashnik & associates and today we will talk about food stamps investigations in new york city what triggers an investigation andof course how we can help you

income means your household's total grossmonthly income before tax and withholding are subtracted. youshould disclose all types of income including the income of anyone who lives with you or supports you and any money that you receive fromanyone they are many ways the government canfind out about under-reported income mostly through the many computerdatabases are various agencies share at some point you'll receive aletter

ordering you to come in for an interviewnow this is the crucial point what do you dowhen you get the letter with always tell our clients and theyshould seek legal advice before speaking with any investigators making statements tothem won't help you at all but it can hurtyou in many ways now why am i saying this many people ask but the letter says i have to tell theanswer is no you don't have to speak with anyinvestigators

there's no such obligation but if youspeak with them you'll make self-incriminatingstatements that will be used against you in court speaking with fraud investigator is nodifferent than speaking with any other law enforcement agents theirjob is to get the evidence against you before moving thecase on so if your case is about misrepresentingyour income it is largely a paper case easy to prove and there's not much you can say thatwill help you whether you intentionally

misrepresent your income or made it honest mistake reading theapplication the really only care that it was done so how can we help you many of our clientsmake mistakes in applying for government programs because they didn't reallyunderstand the reporting obligations or they relied on other people's adviceeven though the offense is done when you submit the application with the falseinformation a good lawyer should always try toprevent criminal prosecution this is always our primary goal and yourbest case scenario

we have handled hundreds a publicbenefit fraud cases helping our clients avoid prosecutionbut even if you are arrested and prosecuted we can still minimize your criminalexposure let me give you an example last year wehad a client who was arrested for misrepresenting her income on herfood stamp application her income close to seventy thousanddollars and she collected close to nine thousand dollar food stamp benefits for herself and herkids she was charged

with several felony charges includinggrand larceny welfare fraud and filing of a false business document unfortunately for her she had a greencard she was not a us citizen making a very likely she would facedeportation the case was very straightforward therewas no defense strong enough to go to trial what we managed to do was work out aplea agreement with the da that allow the client to pay restitutionbefore she pled guilty when she did plead guilty it was toa reduced misdemeanor

attempt count she was sentenced aconditional discharge meaning that the case was closed thisallowed her to avoid a conviction of an aggravated felony and probably acrime of moral turpitude so she could have a better chance toavoid deportation however this is an extreme example andin all public benefits fraud investigation a good lawyer shit always try to resolvethe case without drama it you have more questions about yourfood stamp fraud investigation i want you to pick up the phone and callus today so we can help you