LOS ANGELES – A San Gabriel Valley man pleaded responsible in the present day to a federal conspiracy cost and admitted that he helped orchestrate a scheme wherein Chinese language nationals paid as much as $60,000 to enter into sham marriages with U.S. residents within the hope of acquiring “inexperienced playing cards.”
This case is the results of an undercover investigation by the Los Angeles Doc and Profit Fraud Activity Power – which is led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI).
Chang Yu “Andy” He, 55, of Monterey Park, the proprietor of Honest Value Immigration Service, pleaded responsible to at least one rely of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.
Based on his plea settlement, from January 2018 to November 2019, He recruited United States residents to enter into marriages with Chinese language nationals, who then filed immigration paperwork with United States Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS).
Particularly, He deliberate to rearrange fraudulent marriages for 3 pairs of Chinese language nationals and U.S. residents to acquire inexperienced playing cards. The U.S. residents in these conditions have been truly undercover HSI particular brokers. He additionally met with a co-defendant and two different undercover brokers for the aim of arranging sham marriages between the brokers and the Chinese language nationals.
He admitted teaching the Chinese language nationals and United States residents on the way to make their marriages seem real and the way to go interviews performed by USCIS, together with making a fraudulent paper path for the {couples} and memorizing solutions to questions USCIS officers would ask throughout interviews.
Based on courtroom paperwork, He additionally instructed the “{couples}” to acquire joint financial institution accounts and joint condo leases, maintain garments within the residences the place the {couples} supposedly lived collectively, and go to the condo a number of days per week so the neighbors would see them collectively.
In October 2018, He launched a U.S. citizen – who truly was an undercover HSI particular agent – to co-defendant Xiaojun Han, 40, of Irvine, for the aim of coming into right into a sham marriage to acquire a inexperienced card. He paid the undercover HSI agent $10,000 to enter into the sham marriage and, in April 2019, met with the agent on the Rosemead Public Library to assist with Han’s immigration paperwork. He admitted telling the agent that he can be paid $25,000 when Han obtained her inexperienced card, in addition to $5,000 on the finish of the immigration course of.
This investigation started in March 2017 primarily based on info offered by an nameless supply. HSI legal investigators consider the defendants’ purchasers discovered concerning the service by way of phrase of mouth and from ads in Chinese language newspapers.
U.S. District Choose Michael W. Fitzgerald has scheduled a February 1, 2021 sentencing listening to, at which era He’ll face a statutory most sentence of 5 years in federal jail.
Co-defendants Huanzhang Wu, 29, of St. Paul, Minnesota and Zhongnan Liu, 34, of San Diego, who paid He to rearrange their sham marriages, every pleaded responsible to at least one rely of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Wu was sentenced to at least one yr of probation. Liu’s sentencing listening to is scheduled for November 5.
Han and Xiulan “Cindy” Wang, 47, of San Gabriel, the proprietor of Pacific Bizhub Consulting, have a March 16, 2021 trial date scheduled on this case.
Along with HSI, the Los Angeles Doc and Profit Fraud Activity Power contains representatives from the U.S. Division of State’s Diplomatic Safety Service and USCIS’ Fraud Detection and Nationwide Safety unit. The San Gabriel Police Division, the West Covina Police Division, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk and ICE’s Enforcement and Elimination Operations (ERO) assisted within the investigation.
This matter is being prosecuted by the U.S. Legal professional for the Central District of California’s Riverside Department Workplace.
