Matter of Seri


Matter of Seri (2017 NY Slip Op 08381) Matter of Seri 2017 NY Slip Op 08381 Decided on November 29, 2017 Appellate Division, Second Department Per Curiam. Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports. Decided on November 29, 2017 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department RANDALL T. ENG, P.J. WILLIAM F. MASTRO REINALDO E. RIVERA MARK C. DILLON SANDRA L. SGROI, JJ. 2017-06011 [*1]In the Matter of Gnoleba Seri, admitted as Gnoleba Remy Seri, an attorney and counselor-at-law. Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts, petitioner; Gnoleba Seri, respondent. (Attorney Registration No. 4053393) MOTION by the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts to strike the respondent's name from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law, pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4), upon his conviction of a felony. The respondent was admitted to the Bar at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Third Judicial Department on April 16, 2002, under the name Gnoleba Remy Seri. Diana Maxfield Kearse, Brooklyn, NY (David W. Chandler of counsel), for petitioner. Gnoleba Seri, Bergenfield, NJ, respondent pro se. PER CURIAM. OPINION & ORDER On June 29, 2016, the respondent pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to the crime of fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, in violation of 18 USC § 1546(a), a federal felony. At the plea proceeding, the respondent admitted that, from in or about October 2012 to April 2015, he knowingly submitted falsified I-864 forms in support of applications for immigration visas. On October 28, 2016, the respondent was sentenced to time served, and two years of supervised release, which included 12 months of home confinement with location monitoring, and 100 hours of community service. Additionally, he was ordered to pay a fine of $3,000, and a mandatory special assessment of $100. Pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4)(a), "[a]ny person being an attorney and counselor-at-law who shall be convicted of a felony as defined in paragraph e of this subdivision, shall upon such conviction, cease to be an attorney and counselor-at-law." Judiciary Law § 90(4)(e) provides that "[f]or purposes of this subdivision, the term felony shall mean any criminal offense classified as a felony under the laws of this state or any criminal offense committed in any other state, district, or territory of the United States and classified as a felony therein which if committed within this state, would constitute a felony in this state." A felony committed in another jurisdiction need not be a mirror image of a New York felony, but it must have "essential similarity" (Matter of Margiotta, 60 NY2d 147, 150). The Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts [*2]now moves to strike the respondent's name from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law, ...

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