Susan Xiao-Ping Su made $5 million illegally.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: Susan Xiao-Ping Su, the founder of the Pleasanton, California-based Tri-Valley University, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for defrauding the Department of Homeland Security by issuing phony visa-related documents to international students in exchange for tuition and fees.
Prosecutors say Su lied about the school’s admission and graduation requirements in order to bring international students to the United States on an F-1, or student, visa, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
In exchange, Su, 44, collected more than $5 million in fees, money that she used to buy multiple properties around Pleasanton along with a Mercedes-Benz, prosecutors said.
Su was convicted earlier this year on 31 counts of wire and mail fraud, visa fraud, harboring undocumented immigrants, money laundering and other related charges.
NBC reported that during the trial, three purported Tri-Valley University professors testified that they never authorized Su to use their credentials in connection with the university and multiple employees testified that the school had no requirements for admission or graduation and she routinely instructed her staff to fabricate transcripts.
Su was also convicted of harboring two Tri-Valley University student-employees to assist her in giving the government false information using a federal database, and even asked one of the students to paint her house and move furniture, the News reported.
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said in a statement, “Every year our country welcomes academically qualified students from all over the world to learn from our country’s best and brightest. The defendant’s scheme took advantage of this highly valuable immigration process, reducing opportunities for legitimate, worthy student applicants.”
In addition to her prison term, Su was ordered to forfeit $5.6 million along with $900,000 in restitution from her visa fraud scheme.