San Fernando Valley Man Admits Guilt in English Proficiency Exam Scheme for Chinese Nationals Seeking Student Visas
Release Date: Oct. 4, 2019
LOS ANGELES – A Woodland Hills man pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges in connection with a scheme where Chinese nationals fraudulently obtained student visas by hiring people with fake Chinese passports to take an English proficiency test on their behalf. This scheme was shut down thanks to assistance from USCIS fraud detection and national security immigration officers.
Liu Cai, 24, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of using a false passport. United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt scheduled a February 13, 2020, sentencing hearing, at which time Cai will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Cai is the lead defendant in a 26-count federal grand jury indictment returned in March, charging six defendants with conspiring to use false passports, using false passports, and aggravated identity theft, as part of the scheme to impersonate Chinese nationals who were required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to obtain a student visa.
https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/san-fernando-valley-man-admits-guilt-english-proficiency-exam-scheme-chinese-nationals-seeking-student-visas
