Story by Ethan
On January 23rd, 2026, the arrest of Leonardo Ferretti, age 50, was announced by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. Leonardo Ferretti was charged with first-degree Immigrant Assistance Services Fraud, third-degree Grand Larceny, third-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, and Unauthorized Practice of Law. The arrest and charges against Leonardo Ferretti were a result of an investigation handled by Queens District Attorney Detectives Elias Chacon, Kenny Chin, Robert Li, under the supervision of Sergeant David Joglar and Lieutenant William Abatangelo.
According to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, in December 2022 the defendant had met the victim through an online dating app before he provided his phone number so they could communicate through the online messaging platform WhatsApp. The two would meet up in person and continue to stay in contact with one another afterwards. Leonardo Ferretti had told the victim he was a student at Colombia Law School and was set to take the bar exam in 2023. The defendant also had sent a falsified business card classifying himself as “Juris Doctor Candidate, Class of 2022, Colombia Law School in the city of New York,”. Leonardo Ferretti explained that if the victim needed any help she could contact him using the phone number on the card, which was the same one he gave her initially, as well as through the listed email address at law.colombia.edu. In April of 2023 Leonardo Ferretti contacted the victim again to let her know that he had successfully passed the bar exam. Approximately a month later the defendant offered a $15,000 deal to the victim to provide her with immigration legal services, eventually the two agreeing upon an installment payment plan after the victim expressed she couldn’t pay the $15,000 in full at that time. In August 2023 Leonardo Ferretti also requested an extra payment of $300 for a criminal background check. From June 5th, 2023, to December 30th, 2023, the victim made a total of 16 payments totalling to $11,800 through Zelle for the supposed immigration services. In July 2023 the victim’s brother used Zelle to pay Leonardo Ferretti $3,500 to handle the debts the victim still had. The total amount of $15,300 was split between two bank accounts belonging to the defendant. The last point of contact between Leonardo Ferretti and the victim was on May 20th, 2024, when the victim attempted to contact him multiple times without any response back. This began an investigation into the defendant that revealed there was no student at Colombia Law School with the name Leonardo Ferretti, nor was the defendant ever admitted to take the bar exam. No applications for the victim to receive immigration benefits were filed by the defendant to the proper federal authorities. Leonardo Ferretti was located and arrested by the Queens District Attorney’s Detective Bureau on January 21st.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office stated that the charges against Leonardo Ferretti are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
