Lawyer pleads guilty to visa fraud

An attorney in Southern California has pleaded guilty to a $50million EB-5 visa fraud, involving some of China's most-wanted fugitives accused of bribery and other crimes.

Victoria Chan, 35, operated a business called the California Investment Immigration Fund (CIIF) with her Chinese-national father Tat Chan in San Gabriel since 2008.

The operation was shut down in April when federal agents raided CIIF's office and Chan's residence.

Chan and her father persuaded more than 100 Chinese nationals seeking green cards through the EB-5 program to invest a total of $50 million with CIIF and related companies.

The federal EB-5 visa program requires applicants to make an investment of at least $1 million (or $500,000 in an area designated as rural or high-unemployment) and create or preserve at least 10 jobs for US workers in exchange for permanent residency in the US, or agreen card.

Chan admitted that much of the money collected by CIIF from the primarily Chinese investors was either stolen by the conspirators or refunded to the investors.

She submitted an estimated 130 fraudulent EB-5 visa applications to federal immigration authorities. Many of those applications falsely claimed that the foreign investments were being used to fund construction projects that were creating new jobs.

Instead of legitimately investing the funds into US businesses, Chan stole the funds to purchase homes in her name, including residential properties each worth nearly $1 million, according to the US attorney's office of the central district of California.

Prosecutors filed nine civil complaints in May to seek forfeiture of nine properties purchased in connection with the fraud.

Chan, along with other people and entities related to her, agreed to forfeit to the government eight properties worth nearly $25 million. A ninth property,a parcel in Rancho Cucamonga named in an asset forfeiture complaint related to the scheme, is expected to be forfeited in the coming weeks, according to the US attorney's office.

Chan pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and international money laundering.

She faces up to 45 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for July 9, 2018.

According to court documents, some of Chan's clients were on China's "100 Most Wanted List" after being charged with crimes such as bribery. They were able to obtain green cards based on false information.

Xu Jin, listed as No. 13 on the most-wanted list, was director of the development and reform commission in Wuhan.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com