A Naperville, Illinois man admitted in federal court that he intentionally failed to disclose his prior membership in the Chinese Communist Party when seeking naturalized citizenship in the United States.
Lu Lin, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to an immigration officer.
He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. But the DOJ has agreed that under the sentencing guideline, Lin’s punishment shouldn’t be more than six months in prison.
Lin’s plea agreement is here (pdf).
He’s a citizen of the People’s Republic of China. On his application for naturalized United States citizenship, he reported that he had never used other names and had never been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
He made the same assertions while under oath in an interview with officials in the Chicago office of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“In reality,” the DOJ said, “Lin had been a member of the Chinese Communist Party from 1987 to 1997, and he had once received an identification document identifying him as ‘Yeung Yung.’”
Lin admitted in the plea agreement that he made the misrepresentations so he would be granted U.S. citizenship.
He acknowledged that his misrepresentations were material to the United States’ subsequent decision to grant him citizenship.
U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang scheduled a sentencing hearing for November 9.
____
Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He’ll be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016.
Comments are closed for this article!