News Releases and Statements

Hee Sun Shim (also known as Leonard Shim and Leo Shim), 53, of Beverly Hills, the owner and manager of the schools, pleaded guilty Thursday morning to conspiracy and immigration document fraud.

Shilan Zhao, 53, of Newcastle, Washington, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiring with her ex-husband Jianjun Qiao, also known as Feng Li, 53, to commit immigration fraud by submitting false documents to federal authorities.

Goran Sabah Ghafour, 35, who had been living in Lawrence, Kansas, pleaded guilty to one count of visa fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Sandra McDonald, 51, a Jamaican national living in Fall River, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 27 months in prison. McDonald previously pleaded guilty in September 2016, to passport fraud, theft of public money, and misrepresenting a Social Security number.  She has been held in custody since her arrest in May 2016.

David Allen Anderton was found guilty by a jury on multiple counts of harboring illegal aliens, conspiracy, and visa fraud.

A Fresno woman was sentenced in federal court Monday to 14 months in prison for conspiring to produce, transfer, possess, and sell fake identification documents, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Investigation Division.

Malik Yousaf, 55, carried out his elaborate scheme by using stolen identities and harboring illegal aliens employed at 7-Eleven, Inc. (7-Eleven) franchise stores located throughout Long Island and Virginia. 

Alejandro Gurany, 49, of El Paso, Texas, who traveled to SeaTac and met with immigrants at an airport hotel between December 2011 and March 2015, according to court documents. At least 19 victims in Washington and Ohio have been interviewed by law enforcement, some who said they paid Gurany thousands of dollars believing he would provide them legal status in the U.S.

Oswaldo Rafael Cabrera, 48, owner of Coalicion Latinoamericana Internacional (CLI), is accused of 22 criminal counts, including grand theft, attempted grand theft, attempted perjury, and conspiracy to engage in the unlawful practice of law. Charges have also been filed against his wife, Maria Marcelina Rodas, 54.

Daniel Espejo Amos, 68, of Lakewood, a former officer with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), who had the authority to approve applications for citizenship, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison Friday for taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.

George L. Wilson, 54, recently of Providence, Rhode Island, was sentenced eight months in federal prison to be followed by 3 years supervised release.

According to court documents, Jose Avianeda-Espinoza, 44, a citizen of Mexico, fraudulently used a U.S. citizen’s identity for nearly 17 years to obtain a number of government identifications and to avoid deportation.

Alexander Smirnoff, who also went by the name “Alex Scott,” 48, and his “legal assistants” – Ekaterina Vladimirovna Zamurueva, 28, and Anna Kirillovna Solodovnikova, 29 – were arrested late last week by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at the residence they share in Corona.

Latonya Carson, 42, of Dallas, was convicted of the following charges: one count of conspiracy to commit theft of public funds, access device fraud and wire fraud; three counts of aggravated identity theft; one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering; four counts of money laundering; and four counts of wire fraud.

Humberto Reveles, 61, was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen. Judge Hanen also ordered Reveles to serve three years of supervised release. He was further ordered to pay restitution of $198,795 to 144 victims of the scheme. In handing down the sentence, Judge Hanen noted this scheme was just as bad as coyotes smuggling people into the United States.

The identity theft charges to which the seven defendants have pleaded guilty carry a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Sowrabh Sharma, 31, of New York, is charged – along with SCM Data Inc., a New Jersey corporation, MMC Systems Inc., a Virginia corporation, and Shikha Mohta, 33, of Jersey City, New Jersey, the head of finance for the companies – with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and to obstruct justice and one count of conspiracy to harbor aliens.

According to the court documents, Amit Chaudhry, 44, is an Indian national who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2005.  Beginning in 2011, he was part of a large, international wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy that involved processing stolen credit card numbers and laundering the proceeds through hundreds of bank accounts.

Juan Carlos Ortega-Santos, 26, was charged with the following immigration fraud-related counts: two counts of using a false document for purposes of obtaining employment, one count of possessing a counterfeit alien registration card, and one count of possessing a counterfeit Social Security card.

Yaowapha Ritdet, 56, of Ukiah, admitted she knowingly hired Thai nationals who were illegally present in the United States to work at her restaurants, Ruen Tong Thai Cuisine and the Walter Café, both located in Ukiah.

The indictment alleged that on Dec. 12, 2012, Titus Ombina Aboge, 32, a citizen of the Republic of Kenya, and an alien in the United States, while living in Ada, Oklahoma, falsely and willfully represented himself to be a U.S. citizen on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9.