A Chinese-American professor at Georgia Tech has been charged by federal prosecutors with violating customs laws by using his position to help Chinese people obtain J-1 visas, effectively sending talent to the New Jersey branch of ZTE Corp.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Kurt Erskine, Gee-Kung Chang, a Chinese-American professor at Georgia Tech, was charged on March 18 with conspiracy to commit a crime in conjunction with Jianjun Yu, a former research director at ZTE USA. Yu, a former research director at ZTE USA, were charged on March 18 with conspiracy to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud.
Jigong Zhang has been a faculty member at Georgia Tech for 19 years. He and Jianjun Yu allegedly conspired together to bring Chinese people to the United States to conduct research at ZTE Corporation USA, a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation based in Morristown, New Jersey. ZTE is partially owned by the Chinese Communist government.
Zhang Jigong, 73, is accused of using his position at Georgia Tech to falsely sponsor the Chinese to come to the United States to obtain J-1 visas – nominally for a work-study program at his school, but in fact for a job at ZTE in New Jersey. telecommunications company in New Jersey.
“The program was not designed to employ foreign workers in the United States in general,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“After arriving in the United States, these Chinese traveled to and landed in New Jersey, where they worked with Yu at ZTE America,” The indictment states.
Some received that visa while being paid by Georgia Tech and working for ZTE, Erskine said.
It is unclear how many Chinese in the case entered the United States through visa fraud. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are investigating the case.
“The United States welcomes scholars and researchers from around the globe.” But we can’t allow anyone to abuse our goodness,” said Chris Hacker, FBI investigator in Atlanta. And that’s what these defendants have done, and now they will be tried.”
“Schemes like this not only steal valuable opportunities from legitimate, hard-working students, they also allow scammers to come to the United States and profit from their wrongdoing.” HSI investigator Katrina Berger said.
“The defendants allegedly abused the visa program to trick Georgia Tech into bringing researchers into the United States.” Erskine added, “The charges filed are the first step in holding them accountable.”
U.S. news platform Patch reported that Georgia Tech said in a statement that Jigong Zhang will remain on administrative leave pending the outcome of the judicial process.
“Georgia Tech is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity in all areas of its operations,” The statement said.
A number of Chinese researchers working in the United States have been prosecuted for concealing their involvement in certain special Communist Party programs. For example, the Beijing-backed “Thousand Talents Program” was designed to steal U.S. research and technology.
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