Defendant took GRE and TOEFL exam for others
BOSTON - A Chinese national pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to misuse of a passport and visa fraud.
Yinyan Wang, 25, a Chinese national studying in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of misuse of a passport and one count of passport fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for April 25, 2018. In November 2017, Wang was arrested in Pennsylvania.
On Oct. 20, 2017, Wang took the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) in Boston for another Chinese citizen. At the testing site, Wang presented a counterfeit Chinese passport containing a counterfeit nonimmigrant visa purportedly issued by the United States in the identity of the other student. On five prior occasions between July 2017 and August 2017, Wang took either the GRE or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam under assumed names for other people.
Each charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Wang will be subject to deportation upon completion of her sentence. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and William B. Gannon, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office of the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney David G. Tobin of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
