ATLANTA – Gee-Kung Chang has been charged with federal conspiracy on visa fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud. Chang and Jianjun Yu were charged on March 18, 2021.
“The defendants allegedly abused the Visa program and deceived Georgia Tech into bringing researchers to the US,” said acting US attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “The charges presented are the first step towards holding them accountable.”
“The United States welcomes academics and researchers from around the world,” said Chris Hacker, special agent for FBI Atlanta. “But we cannot allow anyone to take advantage of our benevolence. That is what these defendants are accused of and now they are being judged. “
“Programs like this not only steal invaluable opportunities from legitimate, hard-working students, but also enable scammers to come to the US and benefit from their misdeeds,” said Katrina W. Berger, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI ) oversees) operations in Georgia and Alabama. “Detecting, arresting, and prosecuting violations are critical to protecting the integrity of our country’s visa program.”
Acting US attorney Erskine said the charges and other information were brought to court: Chang, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech”) in Atlanta, Georgia, and Yu, who was then director of research at ZTE USA – a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation, a partially state-owned Chinese telecommunications and information technology company in Morristown, New Jersey, is said to have joined forces to bring Chinese nationals to the United States to do research.
To make it easier for Chinese nationals to enter the United States, Chang allegedly abused his position as a professor at Georgia Tech, an institution that acted as an exchange sponsor for the State Department’s J-1 visa program, to trick Chinese nationals into fraudulent behavior Obtaining and maintaining J-1 visas.
The J-1 Visa program is designed for individuals who are approved to participate in certain work and study-based exchange visitor programs with exchange sponsoring institutions such as Georgia Tech. The program is not intended for the general employment of foreign workers in the United States.
In the J-1 visa filing submitted to the State Department, Chinese nationals allegedly stated that they would work with Chang at Georgia Tech. In reality, the indictment alleges that after the Chinese nationals arrived in the United States, they traveled to New Jersey and lived there to work with Yu at ZTE USA. In some cases, Chinese nationals received salaries from Georgia Tech while actually working at ZTE USA.
Gee-Kung Chang, 73, of Smyrna, Georgia, has been tried before US Judge Christopher C. Bly. Chang and Jianjun Yu, 53, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, were indicted by a federal grand jury on March 18, 2021. The public is reminded that the indictment contains only indictment. The accused are presumed innocent of the charges and it is the responsibility of the government to establish beyond any doubt the guilt of the accused in court.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Homeland Security Investigations of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The US assistant attorney Samir Kaushal is pursuing the case.
For more information, please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The US Attorney’s website for the Northern District of Georgia is https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
