Posted on 03/09/2021 12:26:35 PM PST by ransomnote
LOS ANGELES – The second defendant named in a federal grand jury indictment surrendered today to face charges stemming from a scheme that used bogus transcripts, ghostwritten admissions essays, and imposters who took standardized tests to help foreigners gain admission to colleges, allowing them to fraudulently obtain student visas to enter or remain in the United States.
Yi Chen, aka “Brian Chen,” 33, of Monrovia, pleaded not guilty this afternoon to charges in a 21-count grand jury indictment that alleges conspiracy, visa fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Chen’s co-defendant – Yixin Li, aka “Eason Li” and “Calvin Wong,” 28, of San Gabriel – surrendered on March 2 and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment that afternoon.
The indictment alleges that Chen and Li owned “educational consulting” companies in Alhambra and Arcadia that charged foreign students thousands of dollars for “guaranteed” admission to a college that would lead to the issuance of an F-1 student visa. To secure admission to a school, the companies prepared application packages that used bogus or altered transcripts, and they hired people to impersonate the prospective student to take standardized tests, such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
The indictment lists a number of foreign nationals for whom Chen and Li allegedly obtained, altered or fabricated transcripts, which helped the students obtain admission to schools across the United States, including New York University, Columbia University, Boston College, and several University of California campuses.
Once a foreign student was admitted to a college, the school issued a “Form I-20, Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status – For Academic and Language Students,” which provided the basis for a visa application or extension of permission to remain in the United States.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Chen and Li are charged with conspiracy, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. They are also named in various counts of fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, an offense that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Chen and Li are each charged with one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence that would run consecutively to any other prison term imposed in the case.
Chen and Li are linked to a group of imposter test-takers who were the subject of an earlier indictment that outlined how they used fake Chinese passports to take TOEFL exams on behalf of foreigners seeking college admissions and student visas. All six defendants in that earlier case pleaded guilty and were sentenced to probation.
During today’s arraignment, Chen was ordered detained pending trial, which was scheduled for May 4.
At Li’s arraignment last week, a United States magistrate judge set bond at $200,000, but he has yet to post bond and remains in custody. A trial date for Li was scheduled for April 27.
The case against Chen and Li, as well as the earlier case targeting the test-takers, was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Fraud Detection and National Security Section, provided substantial assistance. The Educational Testing Service, which administers the TOEFL exam, provided assistance during the investigation.
The indictment against Chen and Li is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Matthew C. Chan and Assistant United States Attorney Julia Hu, both of the General Crimes Section.
There was a similar scandal some years back with fluent Pakistanis being paid to take the TOEIC in Britain for others who had no English skills but wanted to get student visas for local colleges. ETS, which runs both TOEIC and TOEFL, shut down all TOEIC testing in Britain the day it was discovered, and the company will certainly do the same here.
Wonder whar the budget deficit would look like if they would cut out all the bribes, fraud, graft, larceny, kick backs & pay offs outta the gummit system??
Btw, will the illegal immigrants be getting their 1,400 next month?
Is this how Obummer got in school?
Wonder what the colleges were charging to process these applications and provide the necessary documents that would allow easy, legal entry into the US. Suspect they were charging a bit more than their standard admission application fees and were demanding up front tuition payments. Wonder how many “students” these schools admitted, processed and never showed up for instruction. These two Chinese guys had to collude with people at the colleges.
You mean “biden” isn’t going to “give” them amnesty?
Only after the check clears.
Colleges famously for some time now have had students from China who don’t speak English sufficiently for legitimate success in their courses, but who are there because they are paying full freight.
Is this how Obummer got in school?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Looks like a match made in heaven for Barack Hussein Soetoro
Cool story bro. Anything about Hunter Biden’s child rape porn and bribeer on behalf of his dad? Anything about the coup attempt of 2016 and the coup/steal of 2020? Clinton and his 26 trips to Rape island? Fauci illegally using NIH cash to fund the Wuhan lab for gain of function research? The Podesta brothers child bondage porn collection? Swallowell doing a Chinese spy? etc? RICO against antifa organizers and funders? Anything against the naked short on Gamestop? Anything against BLM and their RICO corruption?
We’re waiting F-Troop, we’re waiting.
How much was China paying these guys?
“ Wonder whar the budget deficit would look like if they would cut out all the bribes, fraud, graft, larceny, kick backs & pay offs outta the gummit system??”
I dunno, but I can guarantee we wouldn’t be talking about term limits
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