An Arcadia man, David Frederick Thornton, pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count of impersonating a federal officer. Charges included his defrauding donors to his Thornton Kidney Research Foundation.
Arcadia couple Edward Chen, aka Jianqiao Chen, Jian Qiao Chen, and Jian Chen aka Jing Jiang and Jean Jiang, accused of fraud involving defrauding investors through EB-5 visa schemes. The couple's companies raised more than $22.5 million from 45 Chinese investors, purportedly to build an interior design center in Ontario and a condominium building in Los Angeles. See also "Arcadia couple faces court hearing for stealing $12 million," Arcadia Weekly, p. 1,3 October 5, 2017.
Arcadia Police Department is warning senior citizens to avoid giving out personal information and credit card information to scam artists pretending to represent official agencies over the telephone. The scammers use intimidation as a tactic.
Arcadia resident David Frederick Thornton, charged with wire and mail fraud and embezzling money from the Thornton Kidney Research Foundation, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.
Arcadia resident, Ruixue "Serena" Shi, gets 20-year sentence for Coachella Valley fraud involving $22.8 million in funds for a condominium and hotel complex called Hyde Resorts and Residences Coachella Valley. Shi was president and owner of Global House Buyer (GHB), a China-based real estate development company, and also was CEO of the Beverly Hills-based company Hyde Morgan Development, LLC. Chinese investors in the Hyde project were falsely promised visas through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
Arcadia Ultimate Automotive has been served with a lawsuit from Trevor Law Group accusing the shop of operating without a license. The law firm based in Beverly Hills is filing frivolous suits with mainly small, minority-owned businesses especially automobile repair shops that lack resources to have a legal battle but will settle instead.
Arcadia wine seller Rudy Kurniawan, 35, was arrested on suspicion of trying to sell $1.3 million worth of counterfeit wine and fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans.
Arcadia woman Ruixue "Serena" Shi, 37, pleaded guilty to soliciting $22.8 million in funds for a condominium and hotel project scheme. The crime is one federal count of wire fraud, which has a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 3, 7, October 28, 2021.
Feds move to seize homes in San Gabriel Valley, Rancho Cucamonga. The properties were allegedly purchased with millions in proceeds from what FBi investigators said was a fraudulent visa program. Victoria Chan and her father Tat Chan exploited the EB-5 visa program which offers legal permanent residence in the U.S. for foreign nationals who make job-creating investments of $500,000 or more in U.S. companies.
Food company executives Feng Wu Lam, who owns South El Monte based Golden Food, Inc. and her husband Wei Wen Wu, the company's manager, face insurance fraud, wage theft charges. They are accused of underreporting their payroll to workers' compensation insurance carriers by about $4.5 million between 2015 and 2019. They are both Arcadia residents.
Former Arcadia man accused of lying, losing millions of investors' money. James Arthur McDonald, Jr. former CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Hercules Investments LLC and Index Strategy Advisors Inc. was charged with one count of securities fraud. Prosecutors claim McDonald lost clients of his Los Angeles-based firm Hercules millions of dollars in late 2020. He had been renting a home in Arcadia.
Former TV finance analyst from Arcadia James Arthur McDonalds, Jr. charged with lying to investors about the health of his finance firm and failing to disclose massive losses incurred through risky investments following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. McDonald was CEO of Los Angeles-based Hercules Investments and Redondo Beach-based Index Strategy Advisors Inc. He is believed to be in hiding.
Four Chinese investors are plaintiffs suing San Gabriel consulting firm California Investment Immigration Fund. Plaintiffs believed they were investing $500,000 in U.S. businesses in return for green cards. FBI allege the scheme was fraud and raided the firm and homes of lawyer Victoria Chan, her father Tat Chan, his wife Zheng Chan, in April.
A judge dismissed nine lawsuits brought by Trevor Law Group against automobile repair shops. Arcadia Ultimate is one of the auto shops that is involved.
Monrovia man Yi Chen gets 4 years in prison for fraud in a student visa scheme to get Chinese immigrants into the U.S. unlawfully. From June 2015-February 2021, Chen was the CEO and owner of two so-called educational consulting companies in Alhambra and Arcadia that charged foreign students thousands of dollars for "guaranteed" admission to a college that would lead to the issuance of an F-1 student visa. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 2, October 6, 2022.
Officials deport wine con man Rudy Kurniawan, who bilked collectors out of millions of dollars. He is back in Indonesia. He was putting less expensive Napa and Burgundy wines into counterfeit bottles at his home in Arcadia.
A recent report filed in federal court says Gemcoin's scam collected $164 million. Initially, investigators linked Gemcoin to $32 million in fraudulent investment. Steven Chen, his company U.S. Fine Investment Arts Inc., and Gemcoin (digital currency backed by precious gem reserves and amber mines) are accused of a "worldwide pyramid scheme."
Ruixue "Serena" Shi, 36, of Arcadia, was arrested for allegedly swindling more than $20 million that was solicited for funding a condominium and hotel complex called Hyde Resorts and Residences in Coachella Valley. Shi was president and owner of Global House Buyer (GHB), a China-based real estate development company, and also was CEO of the Beverly Hills-based company Hyde Morgan Development, LLC.
SEC reports show Gemcoin, USFIA were set up to 'defraud investors.' USFIA claimed it had amber mines, millions in precious gems, and other assets to back up its digital currency called Gemcoin, but none of that was real.