A 60-year-old former resident of Atherton, who had a lawyer practice in San Jose, was delivered from the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia to design a federal court in San Jose in relation to a controversial visa program for gaining foreign employees.

Danhong “Jean” Chen, also often called Maria Sofia Taylor, was charged together with her ex-husband Jianyun “Tony” Ye in 2019. The couple was accused in reference to the federal EB-5 visa program with which foreign residents can live permanently within the US Currently 800,000 to 1,050,000 US dollars – in corporations that create jobs for US employees.

Ye guilty of fraud and disability of the judiciary in 2021, was sentenced to 1 yr in prison and, in line with the US Ministry of Justice, was released.

Immediately after the submission of the US Securities and Exchange Commission from the United States, a civil grievance in 2018 fled against her, her and two others who claimed that that they had not submitted investments properly and broken several laws, the Ministry of Justice said in a press release on Friday. Around the identical time, in line with the department, Chen became a naturalized citizen of the tiny Dominica of the Caribbean Island Nation Offer of citizenship for payments out of $ 100,000 in a fund or an actual estate investment of $ 200,000.

Last month, President Donald Trump announced a plan for a 5 million dollar program for “Gold Card”, which might give foreign residents a green card. Minister of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the cardboard would replace the EB-5 programwhat he described as “full of nonsense, belief and fraud”.

Trump claimed that one million gold cards may very well be sold and picked up 5 trillion dollars. Invested within the United States, a trade group that focuses on the EB-5 reported that 14,169 EB-5-visa were exhibited last yr. Chinese residents are the dominant recipients of the visa and received 69%of them last yr, whereby the Vietnamese residents achieved 12%and 6%, the group reported.

At the request of the US government within the Republic of the Kyrgyz, the department said.

She was the one partner in Jean D. Chen's legal offices in North San Jose, a law firm that’s exceeded in immigration law, said the department.

“The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has prepared and presented fraudulent documents that contained incorrect signatures and incorrectly described how applicants would qualify for the EB-5 program,” the Ministry of Justice claimed.

Chen's law firm, claimed the department, represented clients who contributed around $ 52 million in projects as a part of the EB-5 program.

Chen is charged due to 10 cases of Visa fraud, two cases of disability of the judiciary and various severe identity theft. For years she looks in prison and lots of of 1000’s of dollars of fines.

She was speculated to appear in front of the US district court in San Jose on Friday afternoon.

The EB-5 program has proven to be a fertile soil for fraud artists in Bay Area. In January 2023, the 72 -year -old Thomas Henderson from Oakland was sentenced to 16 months in prison after his company had collected greater than 100 million US dollars from foreign investors from foreign investors as a part of this system and used money from 42 investors to finance projects and firms outside of their planned investments. Henderson's co -swörer Cooper Lee owed and received three years of probation.

In 2020, the lawyer Jennifer Yang was sentenced by Palo Alto to almost 4 years in prison after finding guilty for a program for fraud by foreign investors within the EB-5 program. Between 2007 and 2016, Yang, 52, and co-conspirators Daniel Wu from Las Vegas submitted fraudulent EB-5 applications for seven foreign residents who gave them around $ 6 million for investments. But the couple spent the cash of the investors for cars, luxury hotel accommodations and a money purchase of a 2.5 million dollar house for Yang and their family, while the roles that they had created didn’t exist, said the Ministry of Justice.

In 2019, the businesswoman of San Mateo County, Bethany Liou, 55, and their company Golden California Regional Center with the SEC, after the agency had accused them of distracting at the least $ 45 million from foreign residents who wanted to speculate in a Cupertino real estate development as a part of the EB-5 program. The company, which belonged exclusively Liou, said that the SEC's allegations had not admitted or denied that the agency didn’t accuse them of “deliberate fraud” and didn’t get a advantageous.

Originally published: March 7, 2025 at 2:54 p.m. PST

BEIRUT – The Syrian government appeared to have fallen early Sunday, bringing a surprise end to the Assad family's 50-year rule after a lightning rebel offensive.

The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said President Bashar al-Assad had left the country for an unknown location, fleeing insurgents who said they’d entered Damascus after a surprising advance across the country.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the federal government was able to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to an interim government.

“I am in my house and I have not left it, and that is because I belong to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office within the morning to proceed his work and urged Syrian residents to not deface public property.

He didn’t address reports that Assad had left the country.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus on Sunday.

Iranian state television, Assad's fundamental supporter through the war years in Syria, reported that Assad had left the capital. Qatari news channel Al Jazeera was quoted as providing the data without elaborating.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reported seeing groups of armed residents along the road on the sting of the capital and hearing gunfire. The city's fundamental police headquarters seemed to be deserted, with the door open and no officers outside. Another AP journalist captured footage from an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms lay on the bottom beneath a poster with Assad's face.

Residents of the capital reported hearing gunshots and explosions. Footage broadcast on opposition-affiliated media showed a tank in one in all the capital's central squares as a small group of individuals gathered to have fun. Cries of “God is great” rang out from mosques.

It was the primary time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital after a years-long siege.

Pro-government radio station Sham FM reported that Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights had been suspended.

The insurgents also announced that they’d entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and “freed” their prisoners there.

The night before, opposition forces had captured the central city of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, after government troops abandoned it. The city lies at a key junction between the capital Damascus and the Syrian coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – the bottom of the Syrian leader and the location of a strategic Russian naval base.

The government denied rumors that Assad had fled the country.

Sham FM reported that government troops had taken up positions outside Homs, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of varied security agencies had withdrawn from town, adding that rebels had entered parts of town.

The insurgents announced later Saturday that they’d taken over Homs. The rebels had already captured the cities of Aleppo and Hama in addition to large parts of the south in a lightning offensive that began on November twenty seventh. Analysts said rebel control of Homs can be a game-changer.

The rebels' entry into Damascus got here after the Syrian army withdrew from much of the country's south and other areas, including several provincial capitals, remained under the control of opposition fighters.

After the autumn of Damascus, government troops would only have control of two of the 14 provincial capitals: Latakia and Tartus.

The advances last week were by far the most important in years by opposition factions led by a gaggle that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations. In their push to topple Assad's government, the insurgents led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) faced little resistance from the Syrian army.

The rebels' rapid victories and lack of support from Assad's former allies posed the most important threat to his rule because the war began.

UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called on Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to make sure an “orderly political transition”. Speaking to reporters on the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is Assad's fundamental international backer, said he felt “compassion for the Syrian people.”

In Damascus, people rushed to refill on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon and tried to depart the country. Lebanese border officials closed the fundamental Masnaa border crossing late Saturday, leaving many individuals waiting.

Many shops within the capital were closed, a resident told The Associated Press, and people still open were running out of staples similar to sugar. Some were selling items for thrice the traditional price.
The United Nations said it was moving non-critical personnel in a foreign country as a precaution.

Assad's status

Syrian state media denied social media rumors that Assad had left the country, saying he was carrying out his duties in Damascus.

He received little to no help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which once sent 1000’s of fighters to support Assad's forces, has been weakened by years of conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region weakened by regular Israeli airstrikes.

US President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media on Saturday that the United States should avoid military involvement in Syria. Separately, President Joe Biden's national security adviser said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening there.

Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on implementing a 2015 U.N. resolution calling for a Syrian-led political process can be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of an interim governing body, followed by the drafting of a brand new structure and eventually elections supervised by the United Nations.

Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, met with Pederson on the sidelines of the Doha summit to debate the situation in Syria.

In a press release, participants reiterated their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to an end to military activities and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to extend assistance to the Syrian people.

The march of the insurgents

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were within the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters marched toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added.

An insurgent commander, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the messaging app Telegram that opposition forces had begun the “final phase” of their offensive by encircling Damascus.

HTS controls much of northwest Syria and established a “salvation government” in 2017 to administer day-to-day affairs within the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to reshape the group's image by cutting ties with al-Qaeda, abandoning hardline officials and embracing pluralism and spiritual tolerance.

The shock offensive began on November twenty seventh. Gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and the central city of Hama, the country's fourth largest city.

Opposition activists said Saturday that insurgents had entered Palmyra a day earlier, home to invaluable archaeological sites which have been in government hands since they were kidnapped by the Islamic State group in 2017.

In the south, Syrian troops abandoned much of Quneitra province, including the capital Baath City, activists said.

The Syrian Observatory said government troops had withdrawn from large parts of the 2 southern provinces.

The Syrian army said in a press release that it had regrouped and repositioned in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints were attacked by “terrorists.” The army said it was constructing a “strong and coherent defense and security belt in the region,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south.

The Syrian government has described armed opposition members as terrorists because the conflict broke out in March 2011.

Diplomacy in Doha

Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to reap the benefits of the lull in fighting lately to handle the country's underlying problems. “Assad has not taken advantage of this opportunity to engage with his people and restore relations with them,” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised at how quickly the rebels had advanced and said there was an actual threat to Syria's “territorial integrity.” He said war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process.

Originally published: December 7, 2024 at 8:10 pm PST

Shortly after a Lake Tahoe woman was reported missing, her boyfriend was caught after allegedly fleeing Reno within the automotive of a person who was shot to death.

The case began with a missing person report filed with the Placer County Sheriff's Office on Friday, August 9: Patricia Portella-Wright, 48, had failed to indicate up for work. She was a photographer and art gallery worker who lived in Kings Beach along with her boyfriend, Brent Clifford, 55, and was last seen on August 4.

Officers were unable to achieve Clifford and commenced trying to find him.

A possible clue was found two days later. On Sunday, August 11, police were called to a house in Reno where they found 68-year-old William Andrews dead from a gunshot wound to the pinnacle. Andrews turned out to be an acquaintance of Brent Clifford.

After the connection was made, the Placer County Sheriff's Office asked the general public for assist in locating Andrews' missing vehicle, a red Chevrolet Blazer. The office said the SUV was last seen near Hallelujah Junction on Highway 70 in California, and it published an image from a surveillance camera of the vehicle passing the Circus Circus Casino in downtown Reno.

The driver of the Blazer was probably Clifford, it was said.

On Wednesday around 4 p.m., Clifford was arrested in Portola on suspicion of identity theft. The blazer was found nearby.

As the seek for Portella-Wright continued, investigators found clues that led them to the Mount Rose area. On Thursday, a drone spotted a body on a steep slope below Mount Rose Highway between the ski area and the Galena Forest neighborhood. It was recovered and identified as Portella-Wright's body that afternoon. A Placer County Sheriff's Office spokesman didn’t give a reason behind death but said there have been signs of foul play.

Based on the identification, Clifford was charged with murder and was within the Placer County Jail on Thursday.

Map points

1: Patricia Portella-Wright, who lived with Brent Clifford in Kings Beach, was reported missing on August 9.

2: William Andrews was found shot to death in his Reno home on August 11.

3: After Andrews' death, his SUV was seen at Hallelujah Junction.

4: Clifford was arrested in Portola on August 14.

5: Portella-Wright's body was found next to the Mount Rose Highway on August 15.

Originally published: August 16, 2024 at 10:27 am