3 LA Men Arrested In Alleged 'Pay-To-Stay' Immigration Scheme
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Three Southland residents who allegedly ran a "pay-to-stay" scheme for allegedly helping hundreds of foreign nationals remain in the United States as foreign students were arrested Wednesday morning, authorities said.
The alleged enterprise — which authorities say may have generated as much as $6 million a year for the defendants — involved three schools in Koreatown that are accused of catering to foreign nationals who were not actual students, had no intention of attending the schools and lived outside of California, according to the U.S.Attorney's Office.
The defendants named in a 21-count indictment returned Tuesday by a Los Angeles federal grand jury were identified as: Hee Sun Shim, also known as Leonard Shim and Leo Shim, 51, of Beverly Hills, the owner and manager of the schools; Hyung Chan Moon, also known as Steve Moon, 39, of Los Angeles, who assisted with the operation and management of the schools; and Eun Young Choi, also known as Jamie Choi, 35, of Los Angeles, a former employee who assisted with the operation and management of the schools.
According to the indictment, Prodee and its affiliated schools - Walter Jay M.D. Institute, the American College of Forensic Studies, and Likie Fashion and Technology College in Alhambra - were authorized to issue a document that certified a foreign national had been accepted to a school and would be a full-time student.
The document, which is commonly called a Form I-20, made a student eligible to obtain an F-1 student visa that would allow the student to enter and remain in the United States while the student was making normal progress toward completing a full course of study, according to prosecutors.
In exchange for the Form I-20, a student would make "tuition" payments of as much as $1,800 to "enroll" for six months in one of the schools, according to the indictment.
"Immigration fraud schemes potentially compromise national security and cheat foreign nationals who play by the rules," said Acting United States Attorney Stephanie Yonekura. "In this case, officials at several schools allegedly abused their responsibility to ensure that only legitimate foreign students were allowed to the stay in the country."
The defendants are expected to be arraigned on the indictment tomorrow in U.S. District Court.
