Defendant Leuk Kwan Chau, 21, of East Hampton, NY, was charged yesterday by Indictment with mail fraud, passport fraud, and aiding and abetting announced Acting United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen.
According to the Indictment, beginning in or about November 2016, the defendant engaged in a scheme to defraud the Educational Testing Service (ETS) by having an imposter take a standardized entrance exam, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), on his behalf. As part of the scheme, a counterfeit Chinese passport made and sent to the United States was intended to be used by the imposter to defraud ETS administrators into believing that the defendant had actually taken the standardized test. The defendant then received the benefit of the imposter’s test score for use at American colleges and universities.
If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, a $500,000 fine, and a $200 special assessment.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Terri A. Marinari. ETS cooperated fully in the investigation.
An Indictment, Information or Criminal Complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.