US busts fraudulent US$50m investor migration scheme for rich Chinese, including fugitives

US busts fraudulent US$50m investor migration scheme for rich Chinese, including fugitives

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.

Chen said three 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.

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.

With the raids Wednesday, during which computers, banking records and other documents related to the alleged scheme are expected to be confiscated, investigators hope to begin to untangle the complicated case. They have yet to determine how many of the Chinese investors were complicit or victims in the alleged fraud, exactly how much money ring leaders actually raised and what has happened to the money.

The EB-5 program was created in 1990 to help stimulate the US economy through job creation and capital investment from foreign nationals.

Nearly 90 per cent 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.

Concerns over poor oversight and some highly publicized scams led the North American Securities Administrators Association, an advocacy group, to label EB-5-related fraud as one of the top new threats to investors.

Link: http://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2085287/scheme-wealthy-chinese-get-us-visas-busted

特恩布林宣佈澳洲頒佈更嚴謹的公民法

特恩布林宣佈澳洲頒佈更嚴謹的公民法

  • 更嚴謹的公民入籍試; 
  • 擁有家庭暴力和有組織罪行歷史不能入籍;
  • 申請人要證明融入澳洲社會,例如受雇和孩子有上學;
  • 更嚴格的英語測試,包括讀、寫和聽力; 新公民必須顯示出良好的英語能力
  • 永久居民等候期由一年延至四年

此外,申請者需以永居身份在澳洲住滿四年才可以申請入籍,比目前住滿 12 個月多三年。譚保總理稱,澳洲公民身份是一種「特權」。

新措施僅容許申請者三次機會通過入籍測試,三次不通過要等兩年重試。

新措施今日起生效。今年稍後由國會通過修正案,追溯所有今天起的新申請。