Last week, and for the first time, Kyrgyzstan extradited an individual facing federal criminal charges to the United States.
Danhong “Jean” Chen, also known as Maria Sofia Taylor, had been on the run from U.S. authorities since October 2018 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil complain against her and others alleging, among other things, that they had improperly solicited investments. In March 2019, Chen and her ex-spouse and business partner Jianyun “Tony” Ye were indicted by a federal grand jury on visa fraud charges.
Chen, a resident of California, operated a law office in San Jose specializing in immigration law.
The 14-count March 2019 indictment alleged that the pair had fraudulently obtained immigration benefits for more than 100 foreign investors through the “EB-5” visa program. Under the program, foreigners can obtain permanent residency in the United States, a “green card,” by investing in qualified businesses.
As the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California, explained:
To obtain permanent residency status, the applicant’s investment must amount to $500,000 if made in certain geographical areas with low employment rates; if the investment is not in a designated low-employment area, the investment must amount to a minimum of $1,000,000. In addition, under the EB-5 program, individuals seeking investments for businesses may establish “regional centers” to promote investment opportunities to EB-5 applicants within designated geographic areas.
Chen, the indictment alleged, “fraudulently obtained immigration benefits through the EB-5 program on behalf of her clients by, among other actions, falsifying documents to hide the true ownership and nature of a regional center.”
Chen has been charged with 10 counts of visa fraud, two different count of obstruction of justice, and one count of aggravated identity theft. On the visa fraud charges, for each charge she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years and fine of $250,000; she also faces five years and a maximum fine of $250,000 on one obstruction charge and 20 years and a maximum fine of $250,000 on the other. Chen faces a mandatory term of at least two years for the identity theft charge.
In 2021 Ye pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 months in prison; he has since served his time and been released.
Chen was still on the lam – until she was caught in Kyrgyzstan.
On March 7, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Chen had been extradited from Kyrgyzstan, noting in the press release, “This is the first extradition from the Kyrgyz Republic to the United States on federal criminal charges.”
What, if any, connection to Kyrgyzstan Chen had is not explained by the Justice Department. It has not been reported how long she may have been hiding out in Kyrgyzstan or if she was merely passing through. The identities and nationalities of those who obtained visas through Chen have also not been reported.
Chen was scheduled to appear before a judge on March 7 but there has been no reporting about the outcome of that hearing.
Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested he might sell “gold cards” to wealthy foreigners: “You have a green card. This is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.”
As noted above, this already exists in the form of the EB-5 visa. Trump’s version represents a ratcheting up of the price and potentially a change to the conditionality that has set the U.S. program aside from other such schemes.
Some countries have what is derisively called “golden passports” or “golden visas” in which citizenship can effectively be purchased. Anti-corruption activists note how easily such systems can be abused by the ultra wealthy and the tremendously corrupt.
“They’ll have to go through vetting, of course,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, “to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens.” When asked if his “gold cards” could be sold to Russian oligarchs, Trump responded, “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
If anything, the Chen case demonstrates the ways in which these sorts of systems can be fooled.