Pastor sentenced to 1 year for visa fraud, ordered to forfeit building housing former religious school

Pastor sentenced to 1 year for visa fraud, ordered to forfeit building housing former religious school

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A federal judge here Monday sentenced a Korea-born pastor who operated a now defunct Orange County religious university to one year in prison and ordered him to forfeit to the government the $4 million property housing the school following his conviction on visa fraud and money laundering charges.

Samuel Chai Cho Oh, 66, who owned and operated California Union University (CUU) in Fullerton, Calif., pleaded guilty Jan. 13 to 10 counts of visa fraud and two counts of money laundering. In addition to one year in prison, U.S. District Judged James V. Selna also sentenced Oh to one year of home confinement. As part of his plea, Oh also agreed to forfeit another $418,000 in proceeds from the visa fraud scheme that had been laundered through a church he was affiliated with and a Chinese restaurant owned by a friend.

The case stems from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with substantial assistance provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service.

"The court order requiring Mr. Oh to turn over nearly $4.5 million worth of property and assets to the government makes this one of the largest forfeiture actions ever imposed in the Los Angeles area in a visa fraud case," said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Los Angeles. "Today's sentencing should serve as a warning to those who manipulate our legal immigration system to enrich themselves - if you're caught, you stand not only to lose your freedom, but also any profits you reaped from those crimes."

(READ MORE)