NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT __________ No. 21-2586 ___________ ALEXEI LEGASSOV, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ____________________________________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Agency No. A074-726-967) Immigration Judge: Jason L. Pope ____________________________________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) February 10, 2022 Before: MCKEE, SHWARTZ and MATEY, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed February 24, 2022) ___________ OPINION* ___________ PER CURIAM * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. Petitioner Alexie Legassov petitions for review of a final order of removal and the denial of a motion to remand. For the following reasons, we will deny the petition. Legassov, a Russian citizen, has lived in the United States since 1993. In 2018, he was convicted in New Jersey of insurance fraud (N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:21-4.6(c)) and operating a corporation for criminal purposes (N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:21-9(c)). He was sentenced to prison terms of four and five years, respectively, and ordered to pay over $1.2 million in restitution. After the Government initiated removal proceedings in 2019, an Immigration Judge (IJ) concluded that Legassov was removable as a noncitizen convicted of two or more offenses for which the aggregated sentences were five years or more (8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(B)) and as a noncitizen convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) (8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I)). In August 2020, Legassov, proceeding pro se, applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). At a hearing in January 2021, Legassov testified that he entered the United States due to fears relating to his father’s involvement in investigating the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Although the official cause of his father’s death in 1988 was suicide, Legassov claimed that the Russian government had his father killed and he was warned to stop discussing that topic. Legassov stated that he was not harmed while in Russia, but he believed that the KGB initiated charges against him in 1996 after his departure and that he had been included on a wanted list. 2 The IJ ruled on several grounds that Legassov did not qualify for relief. In addition to making an adverse credibility finding, the IJ concluded that the one-year filing deadline barred the asylum application, and Legassov failed to provide a significantly changed circumstance to extend the time for filing. Even aside from the one-year bar, the IJ explained that he would deny asylum as a matter of discretion due to Legassov’s criminal history. The IJ likewise decided that Legassov had committed a “particularly serious crime” which rendered him ineligible for withholding of removal, and that Legassov did not qualify for CAT relief where he had not shown it would be more likely than not that he would be tortured upon his return to Russia. The IJ also denied voluntary departure. On appeal, the BIA agreed with the IJ’s reasoning, rejected all grounds advanced …
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