Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston recently arrested a Chinese national on charges of being in the country illegally.

According to an April 17 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release, the man came into the country in September 2019, but did not adhere to the conditions of his entrance. He was being held in Rhode Island in connection with a 2019 federal securities fraud case and officers from the ERO Boston office contacted him.

“A grant of admission to the U.S. cannot be used as a cover to engage in conspiracies to profit in the millions of dollars through fraudulent financial schemes,” ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said in the release.

According to the news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts was investigating a wide-ranging market manipulation case and the Chinese national entered a guilty plea in August 2022 to a count of conspiring to conduct securities fraud with traders in the U.S. and China. 

He was found guilty Nov. 30, 2022, and sentenced to three months in jail, along with nine months of house arrest and was ordered to turn over illegal earnings totaling more than $7.75 million, the release said.

“This individual was convicted of participating in a multi-year market manipulation effort involving securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ,” Lyons added, according to the news release. “He has grossly violated the terms of his admission into the country. Financial crimes are not victimless crimes.”

The suspect was taken into custody by an ERO fugitive operations team in Abington, Mass., and removal proceedings commenced with the service of a notice to appear before an immigration judge, according to the release.

"ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws," the release reported.