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15 Chinese Nationals Charged in Fraud Scheme in Pennsylvania, 2015
In a shocking case of academic deception, 15 Chinese nationals have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of conspiracy, counterfeiting foreign passports, mail fraud, and wire fraud, announced United States Attorney David J. Hickton today.
The 35-count indictment, returned on May 21, and unsealed today, names the following 12 individuals as defendants: Han Tong, Xi Fu, Xiaojin Guo, Yudong Zhang, Yue Zou, Biyuan Li (aka “Jack Li”), Jia Song, Ning Wei, Gong Zhang, Songling Peng, Siyuan Zhao, and Yunlin Sun. The identities of the three additional defendants remain under seal.
According to the indictment, between 2011 and 2015, the defendants engaged in a conspiracy and a scheme to defraud Educational Testing Services (ETS) and the College Board by having imposters take college and graduate school standardized entrance examinations, such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
“The perpetrators of this conspiracy were using fraudulent passports for the purpose of impersonating test takers of standardized tests including the SAT, GRE and TOEFL, and thereby securing fraudulently obtained admissions to American institutions of higher education and circumventing the F1 Student Visa requirements,” stated U.S. Attorney Hickton.
“These students were not only cheating their way into the university, they were also cheating their way through our nation’s immigration system,” said John Kelleghan, Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge. “HSI will continue to protect our nation’s borders and work with our federal law enforcement partners to seek out those committing transnational crimes and bring them to justice.”
The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both for each count of wire and mail fraud, 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both for each count of counterfeiting foreign passports, and five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both for conspiracy.
Assistant United States Attorney James T. Kitchen is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government. The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of State conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case. U.S. Attorney Hickton acknowledged that ETS and the College Board cooperated fully in the investigation.
“The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) is committed to working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our other law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of crime related to passport fraud, and to bring those who commit these crimes to justice,” said David Schnorbus, Special Agent in Charge for DSS’s New York Field Office.
An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Key Facts
- State: Pennsylvania
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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