A Rancho Cucamonga man has been sentenced to over three years in federal prison for his role in a "birth tourism" scheme catering to wealthy Chinese nationals, confirmed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California. Michael Wei Yueh Liu, 59, is confronted with a 41-month sentence following a jury's verdict on charges including conspiracy and international money laundering.
Michael Liu, along with Jing Dong, was accused of running a maternity house in Rancho Cucamonga from January 2012 to March 2015 that arranged for Chinese women to give birth in the United States, allowing their children to secure birthright citizenship, these services included tips on visa acquisition and circumventing immigration authorities, housing, and transport within the United States, they also coached clients on how to apply for their newborn's U.S. legal documents. Jing Dong is expected to receive her sentence shortly, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.
Payments for these illicit services were funneled from overseas funding the pair's operations, which evidence presented at trial exposed as a calculated effort to exploit immigration policy, the defendants, Liu and Dong received tens of thousands of dollars from their clients to facilitate their birth tourism desires. The case was investigated by several agencies including Homeland Security Investigations, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and the FBI, with additional support from local Irvine Police and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Departments, Liu and Dong's clients typically returned to China within "one or two months after giving birth," as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.
Assistant United States Attorneys Gregory W. Staples and Kevin Y. Fu led the prosecutorial effort in bringing closure to this case, while the suspects were brought to the justice system's attention through the collaborative investigation between federal and local law enforcement.
