Multi-million dollar Vietnam visa scam tied to Colorado-told its easy to overstay their visas & disappear into the United States.

Article subtitle: 
CO College Grad behind scheme "Concern is terrorism"-recruited customers who could not legally enter the U.S.
Article author: 
Will Ripley
Article publisher: 
9 News
Article date: 
20 August 2013
Article category: 
Colorado News
Medium
Article Body: 

Federal prosecutors call it a multi-million dollar global scheme with strong ties to Colorado.

A University of Denver graduate is in federal custody, accused of helping hundreds of Vietnamese citizens enter the United States illegally ...

The 28-page criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia says Vo and Huynh recruited customers who could not legally enter the U.S.

Customers paid between $20,000 and $70,000 for Sestak to approve each fraudulent visa.

The affidavit says those Vietnamese citizens were told they could easily "overstay their visas and disappear into the United States."

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia says their investigation has seized more than $2 million in bribes so far.

They're working to track down more than 500 people entered our country illegally.

"These 500 people I hope that we can find them," DU law professor Ved Nanda said 

Nanda says U.S. authorities need to be vigilant.

"The concern is terrorism," Nanda said. "And all those issues of national security."

Those who came to the United States illegally paid tens of thousands of dollars, a small fortune in communist Vietnam, where the average worker earns about $150 a month.

"Who is behind that money? Who is the one who has asked them to come? To do what? That is the potential harm. That is the unknown. That is the one that we are to be worried about," Nanda said ...