Meron Lavie asked if anyone had ever seen a denial of Petition of
Naturalization. Here's one that was denied after the the applicant asked it
to be "dismissed without prejudice". Charles Ponzi is the applicant. He
didn't invent the Ponzi scam, but his name is associated with this
deception. He was an Italian that was in and out of the law because of his
activities. He applied for naturalization in the District Court of
Massachusetts, and the online record indicates he withdrew his application
"Being advised that my petition for naturalization ... and filed in this
court on the twenty-eighth day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-five
does not conform to the Naturalization Statutes in that it is not properly
verified by the attesting witnesses ...". The petition has two witnesses
who are supposed to attest that the applicant is a "person of good moral
character". One is a lawyer, the other a salesman. One of them added in
writing to this standard paragraph "excepting for his arrest in 1920 at
Boston, for using the U.S. mails in a scheme to defaud and, in Mass. State
Courts for Larceny and Conspiracy." Ponzi was eventually deported.
Joel Weintraub
Dana Point, CA