NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - A suspended attorney who became a rabbi pleaded guilty on Monday to running a New York law firm that made millions of dollars in an illegal immigration scheme.

Earl David, 48, fled New York for Canada in 2006 when he heard his law firm and colleagues were being investigated. The dual Canadian-U.S. citizen was arrested in Canada in October and extradited to New York in January.

David pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges. Federal prosecutors said they would recommend the judge sentence him to anywhere between six years and five months and eight years and three months in prison.

David also agreed to pay $2.5 million in forfeiture.

Authorities said that beginning in 1996, David and others charged up to $30,000 to file fake employment letters on behalf of illegal immigrants in order to convince U.S. immigration authorities the aliens were coming into the country legally.

"The documents were indeed fake and false, your honor," David told Manhattan federal court judge Naomi Buchwald on Monday.

In 2003, writing under the name Earl Avraham David, the rabbi authored "Code of the Heart," a treatise on Hebrew numerology that purported to reveal predictions of future events in the Bible based on a hidden code.

Federal prosecutors said David used a bank account in the name of his book to continue to profit from his fraudulent scheme even after he escaped to Canada.

Despite being suspended from practicing law in New York state since 2004, David continued to operate the immigration fraud mill from Canada, authorities said.

The case is U.S. v Earl Seth David et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.11-424.

For David: Avi Moskowitz of Moskowitz & Book in New York

For U.S: Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danya Perry and John Reh

(Updates headline) (Reporting By Basil Katz)

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