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.
Four students of Indian origin have been served probation sentence and community service.
Despite the Tri Valley University case and hate crimes, the Indian-American community gained ground in California, says Ritu Jha.
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.
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.
These students were radio tagged in California after Tri Valley University was shut down in January on charges of massive visa fraud.
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.
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.
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.
With eight officials of a New Jersey based educational institution arrested on charges of foreign student visa fraud, federal authorities have given the students, mostly from India, multiple options to continue their studies or return with prejudice.
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.
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.
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.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Sunday strongly condemned the reported forcible wearing of radio collars around the ankles of Indian students in the Tri-Valley University in United States and demanded severe action against those responsible for the 'inhuman act'. "We demand the US government initiate severe action against officials responsible for this inhuman act. Indian students are not criminals. The radio collars should immediately be removed," he told reporters.
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.
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.
Obama administration says onus on students and their families to make sure they are not hoodwinked by US sham universities
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.
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.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday assured External Affairs Minister S M Krishna that the issue of Indian students enrolled in the Tri Valley University would receive her promptest attention and that 'justice' would be done in the matter. Clinton gave the assurance in the matter during a 40-minute telephonic conversation with the visiting Indian minister. Clinton has asked Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar to meet her on Monday and provide all the details.
United States immigration authorities have removed radio tags from the ankles of two Indian students from California-based Tri Valley University, which has been shut down on charges of massive visa fraud.
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.
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.
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 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.
The president of the California-based Tri-Valley University, Susan Xiao-Ping Su, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on the allegations of visa fraud and money laundering that affected nearly 1,500 Indian students.
A visa scam at Tri Valley University in California, that has affected hundreds of Indian students, is just the tip of an iceberg and a large number of such institutes exit in the United States, a probe report has said.
"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.
The United States has said it is currently focusing on the reinstatement of those students not implicated in the ongoing investigations into the visa scam by the California-based Tri Valley University.
More than 50 per cent of the Indian students hit by the closure of California-based Tri Valley University are at various stages of processing for the reinstatement of their visa status. The Indian mission has been informed by the United States authorities that more than 50 per cent of the students were at various stages of processing for reinstatement, embassy's spokesman Virander Paul said.
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.
The United States Immigration and Custom Enforcement has removed radio tags from three more Indian students of the now shut down Tri Valley University in California and also returned their passports. Susmita Gongulee Thomas, consul general of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, said the ICE has returned the passports of these three students along with the two others, from whom radio tags were removed last week.
"Following the telephonic conversation between the External Affairs Minister of India and the US Secretary of State on February 13, the Indian Ambassador on Tuesday conveyed to the Secretary of State details on the issue of the Indian students at Tri-Valley University," Indian Embassy spokesman Virender Paul said in a statement.
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