Feds allege major immigration fraud in L.A. trade schools

Authorities arrested the operators of four Los Angeles-area trade schools for allegedly running an elaborate “pay-to-stay” scam in which foreign nationals used student visas to stay in the United States without actually going to school. The schools appear to have tapped the booming Asian immigration population in Koreatown and the San Gabriel Valley. Authorities say the suspects took in $6 million a year in tuition payments. Hee Sun Shim, 51, of Beverly Hills; Hyung Chan Moon, 39; and Eun Young Choi, 35, were named in a 21-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury Tuesday. Authorities say Shim operated three schools in Koreatown and a fourth in Alhambra that enrolled hundreds of foreign nationals in their schools so they could remain in the country knowing the students had no plans of attending. The schools identified by investigators were Prodee University/Neo-America Language School; Walter Jay M.D. Institute; an Educational Center and the American College of Forensic Studies and Likie Fashion and Technology College in Alhambra. Shim, Moon and Choi were arrested by immigration agents and are expected to be arraigned Thursday. Their charges include conspiring to commit immigration fraud, money laundering and encouraging illegal residence. The arrests were the culmination of a four-year probe by Homeland Security Investigations.  The men’s scam was discovered when agents with Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program made a surprise visit to Prodee University’s main campus on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown. The school had more than 900 students enrolled on its books, but officials say they found only three students in a single English-language class.  A surprise check at American College of Forensic Studies had a similar result, authorities said. Investigators found one student in one religion class though 300 foreign students were considered “active” at the school...more