PITTSBURGH - A Chinese national has been sentenced in federal court to two years probation and six months home detention on his conviction of Mail Fraud in relation to a scheme involving the fraudulent taking of college entrance exams, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
Chief United States District Judge Joy Flowers Conti imposed the sentence on Xi Fu, 27, of Portland, Oregon.
According to information presented to the court, Xi Fu was one of the individuals who was paid to take TOEFL exams for other Chinese students. Fu took approximately three tests and used counterfeit Chinese passports which were mailed to him from China as identification at the testing locations.
Prior to imposing the sentence, Judge Conti stated that her sentence reflected the seriousness of the offense in that it allowed people who otherwise would not have been eligible to enter the U.S. to enter and also affected the integrity of the American college admissions process.
Assistant United States Attorney James T. Kitchen prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of State for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Fu.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
