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FBI
agents search the offices of the California Investment Immigration Fund during
an investigation into an alleged US$50 million high-end visa fraud scheme
involving as many as 100 Chinese nationals in San Gabriel
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Federal agents in
California on Wednesday raided two homes and a business allegedly connected to
a US$50 million visa fraud scheme that benefited up to 100 Chinese nationals.
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FBI
agents remove documents from the offices of the California Investment
Immigration Fund in an investigation into an alleged US$50 million visa fraud
scheme involving as many as 100 Chinese nationals in San Gabriel, California on
April 5, 2017
|
Authorities
said the key suspects in the case helped wealthy Chinese obtain residency visas
in the United States in exchange for bogus investments.
According
to an affidavit by an FBI agent involved in the probe, Victoria Chan, a
California attorney, and her father, Tat Chan, beginning in 2008 convinced more
than 100 Chinese nationals to invest upwards of US$50 million in the California
Investment Immigration Fund (CIIF) and related companies in order to obtain
visas under the so-called EB-5 program.
The
programme offers foreign nationals permanent US residency -- commonly known as a
green card -- in exchange for investments of at least US$500,000 in a US
business that must also create 10 American jobs.
"As
a result of the fraudulent scheme, many foreign nationals were able to
improperly obtain US green cards through the EB-5 visa programme, even though
those foreigners did not in fact truly invest in US businesses, nor were new
American jobs created," FBI special agent Gary Chen wrote in the
affidavit.
Chen
said several of those who benefitted from the programme were fugitives on China's
100 most wanted list, charged with crimes such as bribery and abuse of power.
Nevertheless,
at least three of the bogus investors were able to obtain green cards even
though their applications contained false information, Chen said.
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The
scheme involving the California Investment Immigration Fund allegedly involved
a visa program that offers foreign nationals legal residency in the United
States in exchange for investments of at least US$500,000 in US businesses
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Victoria
Chan and her father allegedly promised investors a full refund on their funds
but kept some of the money to buy multi-million-dollar homes for themselves and
for Tat Chan's female companion, Fang Zeng, a Chinese national.
They
also submitted plans to federal authorities for various development projects
that never got off the ground.
Officials
said no arrests have been made yet in the case and no formal charges have been
filed.
The
EB-5 programme was created in 1990 to help stimulate the US economy through job
creation and capital investment from foreign nationals.
Nearly 90 percent of EB-5 visas were issued to Chinese nationals in 2014, when the programme reached its quota of 10,000 visas and had to stop accepting applications.
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