The defendants allegedly conspired with more
than 1,000 foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain student and foreign worker
visas through a “pay to stay” New Jersey college: The University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ) – The
UNNJ was created in September 2013 by HSI federal agents.
Posted by CotoBlogzz
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Twenty-one
brokers, recruiters and employers from across the United States were arrested
in New York, Washington, New Jersey and Virginia by special agents with U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations
(HSI) and charged in 14 complaints with conspiracy to commit visa fraud,
conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit and other offenses, according to
announcement by U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman for the District of New Jersey.
All the defendants, with the exception of
Yanjun Lin aka Aimee Lin, 25, of Flushing, New York, will appear today before
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven C. Mannion of the District of New Jersey in
Newark, New Jersey, federal court. Lin will appear before U.S. Magistrate
Judge Karen L. Strombom in the Western District of Washington federal court.
The defendants allegedly conspired with more
than 1,000 foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain student and foreign worker
visas through a “pay to stay” New Jersey college.
Defendant Name |
Age |
Residence |
Charges |
Jun
Shen aka Jeanette Shen
|
32
|
Levittown,
New York
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Jiaming
Wang aka Celine Wang,
|
34
|
Los
Angeles, California
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Philip
Junlin Li
|
33
|
Los
Angeles, California
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Zitong
Wen aka Kate Wen
|
27
|
Rowland
Heights, California
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Chaun
Kit Yuen aka Alvin Yuen
|
24
|
Rowland
Heights, California
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Ting
Zue aka Tiffany Xue
|
28
|
Flushing,
New York
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Yanjun
Lin aka Aimee Lin
|
25
|
Flushing,
New York
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Zheng
Zhang aka Vicky Zhang
|
26
|
New
York, New York
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Xue
Yong Liu aka Jack Liu
|
29
|
New
York, New York
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Minglu
Li aka Vivian Lee
|
36
|
Los
Angeles, California
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Jason
Li aka Jason Liu aka Fen Lee
|
43
|
Flushing,
New York
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Tajesh
Kodali
|
44
|
Edison,
New Jersey
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Jyoti
Patel
|
34
|
Franklin
Park, New Jersey
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Shahjadi
M. Parvin aka Sarah Patel
|
54
|
Hackensack,
New Jersey
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Narendra
Singh Plaha
|
44
|
Hillsborough,
New Jersey
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Sanjeev
Sukhija
|
35
|
North
Brunswick, New Jersey
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Harpreet
Sachdeva
|
26
|
Somerset,
New Jersey
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Avinash
Shankar
|
35
|
Bloomington,
Illinois
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Karthik
Nimmala
|
32
|
Smyrna,
Georgia
|
–
Conspiracy to commit visa fraud
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Govardhan
Dyavarashetty aka Vardhan Shetty
|
35
|
Avenel,
New Jersey
|
–
H1-B Visa fraud
–
False statements
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
Syed
Qasim Abbas aka Qasim Reza aka Nayyer
|
41
|
Brooklyn,
New York
|
–
H1-B Visa fraud
–
False statements
–
Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit
|
According to the complaints unsealed today and
statements made in court:
The defendants, many of whom operated
recruiting companies for purported international students, were arrested for
their involvement in an alleged scheme to enroll foreign nationals as students
in the University of Northern New Jersey, a purported for-profit college
located in Cranford, New Jersey (UNNJ). Unbeknownst to the defendants and
the foreign nationals they conspired with, however, the UNNJ was created in
September 2013 by HSI federal agents.
Through the UNNJ, undercover HSI agents
investigated criminal activities associated with the Student and Exchange
Visitor Program (SEVP), including, but not limited to, student visa fraud and
the harboring of aliens for profit. The UNNJ was not staffed with
instructors or educators, had no curriculum and conducted no actual classes or
education activities. The UNNJ operated solely as a storefront location
with small offices staffed by federal agents posing as school administrators.
UNNJ represented itself as a school that,
among other things, was authorized to issue a document known as a “Certificate
of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status - for Academic and
Language Students,” commonly referred to as a Form I-20. This document,
which certifies that a foreign national has been accepted to a school and would
be a full-time student, typically enables legitimate foreign students to obtain
an F-1 student visa. The F-1 student visa allows a foreign student to
enter and/or remain in the United States while the student makes normal
progress toward the completion of a full course of study in an SEVP accredited
institution.
During the investigation, HSI special agents
identified hundreds of foreign nationals, primarily from China and India, who
previously entered the U.S. on F-1 non-immigrant student visas to attend other
SEVP- accredited schools. Through various recruiting companies and
business entities located in New Jersey, California, Illinois, New York and
Virginia, the defendants then enabled approximately 1,076 of these foreign
individuals – all of whom were willing participants in the scheme – to
fraudulently maintain their nonimmigrant status in the U.S. on the false
pretense that they continued to participate in full courses of study at the
UNNJ.
Acting as recruiters, the defendants solicited
the involvement of UNNJ administrators to participate in the scheme.
During the course of their dealings with undercover agents, the defendants
fully acknowledged that none of their foreign national clients would attend any
actual courses, earn actual credits, or make academic progress toward an actual
degree in a particular field of study. Rather, the defendants facilitated
the enrollment of their foreign national clients in UNNJ to fraudulently
maintain student visa status, in exchange for kickbacks, or
“commissions.” The defendants also facilitated the creation of hundreds
of false student records, including transcripts, attendance records and
diplomas, which were purchased by their foreign national conspirators for the
purpose of deceiving immigration authorities.
In other instances, the defendants used UNNJ
to fraudulently obtain work authorization and work visas for hundreds of their
clients. By obtaining this authorization, a number of defendants were
able to outsource their foreign national clients as full-time employees with
numerous U.S.-based corporations, also in exchange for commission fees.
Other defendants devised phony IT projects that were purportedly to occur
at the school. These defendants then created and caused to be created
false contracts, employment verification letters, transcripts and other
documents. The defendants then paid the undercover agents thousands of
dollars to put the school’s letterhead on the sham documents, to sign the
documents as school administrators and to otherwise go along with the
scheme.
All of these bogus documents created the
illusion that prospective foreign workers would be working at the school in
some IT capacity or project. The defendants then used these fictitious
documents fraudulently to obtain labor certifications issued by the U.S.
Secretary of Labor and then ultimately to petition the U.S. government to
obtain H1-B visas for non-immigrants. These fictitious documents were
then submitted to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS). In
the vast majority of circumstances, the foreign worker visas were not issued
because USCIS was advised of the ongoing undercover operation.
In addition, starting today, HSI Newark is
coordinating with the ICE Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit
(CTCEU) and the SEVP to terminate the nonimmigrant student status for the
foreign nationals associated with UNNJ, and if applicable, administratively
arrest and place them into removal proceedings.
No comments:
Post a Comment