Visa Fraud

October 18, 2018

Jean Danhong Chen, an attorney, and Tony Jianyun Ye have been charged by the SEC with securities violations arising from their sale of EB-5 securities to Chen's clients, earning over $10 million in undisclosed commissions.  Chen and Ye operated an EB-5 regional center, Golden State Regional Center LLC, and advised Chen's clients to invest in the center’s projects while concealing their ownership interest. After learning of the SEC’s investigation, Chen and Ye allegedly backdated documents and scrubbed other business records to conceal their role in the alleged scheme.  SEC

June 13, 2018

Venkat Guntpally was sentenced to 30 months in prison following his guilty plea on charges of visa fraud and related crimes.  Guntpally admitted that employment staffing companies that he founded submitted fraudulent petitions to the U.S. government for foreign workers to receive H-1B visas, including by misrepresenting the companies at which the workers would be employed.  ND Cal

March 5, 2018

The SEC charged a Edwin Shaw LLC with illegally brokering dozens of investments by foreign nationals seeking U.S. residency. Between April 2014 and March 2017, Edwin Shaw solicited foreign nationals to invest in securities issued by a taxi and limousine company based in Queens, New York.  The investments were marketed to investors interested in applying for legal residency through the federal government’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which provides a path to legal residency for foreigners who invest directly in a U.S. business or private “regional centers” that promote economic development in specific areas and industries. Edwin Shaw agreed to a cease-and-desist order and agreed to pay disgorgement of $400,000 plus prejudgment interest of $54,209.20 and a penalty of $90,535. SEC

February 2, 2018

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the Miami-based businessman behind an alleged scheme involving investments in a Vermont-based ski resort has agreed to pay back more than $81 million of investor money that he used illegally. According to an SEC complaint filed in 2016 in federal court in Miami, Ariel Quiros allegedly misused more than $50 million in investor funds to purchase a different ski resort and to fund personal expenses such as income taxes and two luxury New York City condominium purchases. Investors were told their money would specifically be used for construction projects at the Jay Peak Resort and a nearby proposed biomedical research facility. Companies owned by Quiros also allegedly failed to contribute approximately $30 million in investor funds toward Jay Peak construction, with two projects going uncompleted. This jeopardized investors' investments as well as their participation in the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program under which Quiros and his businesses solicited the money. SEC

April 11, 2017

Argentine information technology and consulting firm Sistemas Globales S.A. agreed to pay $1 million to settle charges that it and its corporate affiliates, including U.S. affiliate Globant LLC, violated the False Claims Act and the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act relating to Globant’s use of B-1 visas for certain of its foreign national employees. DOJ (NDTX)