US busts fraudulent US$50m investor migration scheme for rich Chinese, including fugitives
At least three of the would-be immigrants are on Beijing’s 100 most-wanted list
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.
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 program, 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.
