The trial of Susan Xiao Ping Su, the president and owner of the fraud-ridden Tri-Valley University, started on Tuesday.
A federal jury on Monday convicted Susan Xiao-Ping Su, the founder of California-based Tri Valley University.
The founder of the California-based Tri-Valley University, who destroyed the academic careers of several hundred Indian students in the United States, has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for running a sham university that served as a front for an immigration scam.
California based Tri-Valley University president Susan Xiao Ping Su, finally got arrested early on Monday morning. She has been indicted by the federal grand jury on 33-criminal counts, charging her with wire fraud, mail fraud, visa fraud and conspiracy to commit visa fraud, use of a false document, making false statements to a government agency, alien harboring, customs enforcement's homeland security investigations.
Hundreds of Indian students face an uncertain future as a California 'university' faces immigration fraud charges.
Ashok Kolla, chair, student committee, TANA, said last week that seven of the 18 students radio tagged had been relieved of their ankle irons. Peddibhotla said radio tags being removed is the first step in a long battle.
The United States immigration authorities on Wednesday asked the 1,555 students of the California-based Tri Valley University, which has been shut down on charges of visa fraud affecting hundreds of Indians, to contact them directly to find out the options they have to pursue their studies in this country.
About 60 students of the Pleasanton, California-based Tri-Valley University--shut down by federal authorities for alleged visa fraud--met India's consul general in San Francisco February 1, requesting for help in finding a way out from the nightmare they say has fallen on them.
A much-awaited advisory from the Department the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement may alleviate the fears of legitimate students of Tri-Valley University, which was closed following charges of fraud. The advisory, posted on Tuesday, provides students with a few options, including the one to return home without being barred re-entry to the US in future.
A tremendous effort made by the Indian government to stop the arrest and harassment of the Indian students who are victims of the Tri-Valley University seems in vain, as students are still been taken to the detention center by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
For the first time in the past 11 months the United States District Court of Northern California favoured former students of the Tri-Valley University.
Horror stories like Tri Valley University and University of Northern Virginia, where students were enrolled in unaccredited institutions which violated visa norms, are still fresh in the minds of many. Don't fall prey to these traps, warns Rahul Choudaha, Director of Development & Innovation at WES, New York.
The US officials informed that out of more than 1000 students, who were being considered for transfer to other universities, 435 transfers were approved, 145 were denied and about an equal number were issued Notices of Intention to Deny (NOIDs), the Indian embassy said in a statement.
The letter, written by the Indian ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which she expressed her concern about the Indian students affected by the "sham" Tri-Valley University is being reviewed and would be replied soon, an official spokesperson has said.
"It is not going to happen and closure will happen in 2 or 3 months. I feel, definitely it would be much longer than that may be 6 or 7 months or 8 months", Susmita Gongulee Thomas, the Consul General of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco said.
The jury trial of Susan Xiao Ping Su, the president and owner of the now shutdown Tri-Valley University in California, began on March 3.
A senior official in the Barack Obama administration has said that all contentious issues, including concern that Indian students are being duped by sham universities and colleges that have questionable credentials, would be on the table during the major United States-India Education Summit in October.
"The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has begun the process of adjusting the status and transfer of eligible students on a case by case basis," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour.
Ritu Jha speaks to some Indian students who have been at the receiving end of the Tri-Valley University scam in the United States.
Hundreds of Indian students may have been victims in an elaborate fraud scheme, according to a complaint filed against a university in California by the United States attorney's office.
Despite the Tri Valley University case and hate crimes, the Indian-American community gained ground in California, says Ritu Jha.
These students were radio tagged in California after Tri Valley University was shut down in January on charges of massive visa fraud.
Earlier on January 19, American federal agents had raided the Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton, California, and shut it down for misusing visa permits, laundering money and for other crimes.
Leaving the United States is the only solution left, felt Sheela Murthy of the Baltimore, Maryland-based Murthy Law Firm, for students of Tri-Valley University, who have been running from one university to another and from one attorney to another since federal authorities raided and shut down the college on January 19.
Obama administration says onus on students and their families to make sure they are not hoodwinked by US sham universities
India has asked the United States to take a "lenient" view of the students duped by a California-based Tri-Valley University, dubbed as the "sham" university by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, amidst reports that they were forced to wear radio collars around their ankles so that American authorities can keep a track of their movements.
Jerry Wang, 34, the CEO of Sunnyvale California-based Herguan University and the University of East-West Medicine has been charged in a San Jose District Court with a 15 count indictment on visa fraud including that he forged federal documents to allow foreign students to enter and stay in the US.
India on Saturday said that the Indian students of California-based Tri Valley University, which has been shut down on charges of massive visa fraud, should be absorbed into other United States universities and not victimised.
Hundreds of Indian students, duped by a California-based 'sham' university, are frantically knocking at the doors of colleges, begging for admission in their desperate attempt to save their academic careers and avoid deportation. Nearly 1,500 Indian students were studying at the California-based Tri Valley University, which was shut down by federal authorities last week after investigations revealed that this institution had indulged in massive wire fruad.
The United States has assured India that innocent students of the fake Tri Valley University would get an opportunity to 're-adjust' their status or transfer to other US universities, the government said on Wednesday and expressed confidence that all such students would be relocated. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told Parliament that India had asked the US government that students, who were themselves victims of fraud, should be given adequate time and opportunity.
The United States expressed concern over any activity involving visa fraud, as several Indian students of a California-based University shut down by authorities on charges of illegal immigration were interrogated.
Hundreds of Indian students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, face the prospect of deportation from the United States after authorities raided and shut down a university in the Silicon Valley on charges of a massive immigration fraud.
At least one Indian student has been arrested in a countrywide operation in which hundreds of Indians may be victims or participants in an elaborate fraud scheme involving a California university.
Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao has written to United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to view the cases of over 1,000 Indian students affected by the "sham" Tri-Valley University with "understanding" and in a "fair" manner.
Much before the Tri-Valley University scam that affected many Indians was exposed in the United States, the American Consulate in Mumbai had expressed concern over the steep jump in lesser qualified student visa applications, a leaked US diplomatic cable has said.
Diplomats in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and other places have expressed their disquiet at the way Indian students have been treated like potential fugitives--even criminals--only because of irregularities in the way their university was run. It is not clear how much success they have had in helping Indian students, who are still paying thousands of dollars in bail.
As radio-tagging of scores of Indian students duped by a 'sham' United States university continues to cause anger back home, the controversial institute has claimed that one of its Indian-origin staff was responsible for the immigration fraud and it was not directly involved in it. Breaking its silence, the California-based Tri Valley University, which was shut down in January, termed as 'baseless' the allegations of immigration fraud against the institute.
The US sought to justify the use of ankle monitors on the students, duped by now closed Tri-Valley University, saying it was widespread across America as a standard procedure for a variety of investigations and does not necessarily imply guilt or suspicion of criminal activity.
After being duped by a California-based "sham" university, scores of Indian students in the United States are now enduring the ignominy of being forced to wear radio collars around their ankles so that authorities can keep track of their movements.
Indian origin lawyers Kalpana Peddibhotla, Neha Sampat, Daljit Dhami, Vineeta Gajwani and Anoop Prasad were awarded at the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California's 19th annual gala held on March 30 in San Francisco, US.
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