Kevin P. Boyle is a Wisconsin-licensed attorney, admitted to practice on June 14, 2010. In or about 2010, a client hired Boyle to prepare and file a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on his behalf. On April 21, 2011, Boyle filed a Notice of Entry of Appearance relating to the client’s Form I-130. Sometime after filing the Form I-130, Boyle and the client determined it would be in the client’s best interest to pursue a U-Visa on the client’s behalf because the client had previously been the victim of a violent crime, which made him eligible for a U-Visa. By notice dated June 14, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) approved the client’s U- Visa petition, which granted him U nonimmigrant status for a period of four years.

Prior to the date on which the client’s U- Visa was due to expire, Boyle agreed to prepare and file on the client’s behalf an application for permanent residency. USCIS sent a request to Boyle and/or the client for additional evidence relating to the client’s good moral character. While the client’s U-Visa petition was pending, the client had accepted a plea deal in a criminal matter involving domestic abuse and operating while intoxicated. Boyle attempted to argue that the client should be granted permanent residence based on the severity of the crime underlying the client’s U-Visa eligibility, along with the separation of his family should he not be allowed to remain in the United States. The client’s application for permanent residence was ultimately denied and his legal status was terminated.

Upon denial of the client’s application for permanent residence and termination of his U-Visa status, his permission to work legally in the United States also ended. Consequently, Boyle concluded that the client did not have any basis to apply for a work permit, and Boyle initially informed the client of this conclusion. However, after the client continued to ask Boyle to seek work authorization for him in order to support his family, Boyle agreed to seek a work permit for the client even though he had already concluded the client was not eligible. In August, 2018, Boyle provided the client with a falsified receipt for an application for employment authorization. Boyle had falsified a receipt relating to a different client and provided it to the client so that it appeared that an application for employment authorization was pending on the client’s behalf. Boyle had not submitted anything to USCIS on the client’s behalf.

The client discovered that Boyle had provided him with a false receipt by tracking the status of the application by the receipt number. With the assistance of the county’s sheriff’s department, the client tracked a mailing supposedly containing the client’s work authorization card, sent to him from the Department of Homeland Security, to an unknown address. The client subsequently discovered the address belonged to another of Boyle’s clients. The employment authorization card actually belonged to the other client.

Boyle received $410 from the client as a filing fee for the employment application he failed to pursue. Boyle placed the funds into his business account.