Three Minnesotans are accused in a $500,000 scheme to defraud immigrants by offering them legal services, including paths to citizenship, that were never provided.

Charging documents filed Wednesday say that between January 2023 and November 2025, the ringleader targeted at least 25 immigrants she met at Twin Cities churches. In many instances she offered to provide them legal assistance through a fake lawyer, "Isabella Jason," in exchange for cash payments.

According to the criminal complaint, the pastor of an Inver Grove Heights church met with a Mendota Heights detective and 11 other victims of the scheme in July. The pastor said that he first met the woman in January of 2023, when she started attending the church. She then offered to hire members of the church to work in her restaura

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