Tri Valley University president arrested by federal agents

Susan Xiao-Ping Su, president of the now-defunct Tri Valley University

NewYork: Susan Xiao-Ping Su, president of the now-defunct Tri Valley University based in Pleasanton, Calif., was arrested at her home May 2, and charged with visa fraud, money laundering, harboring undocumented immigrants and lying to federal officials.Su was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, but released later in the day after posting bail of $300,000, ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice told India-West. Kice confirmed that several former TVU students have been placed in deportation proceedings, but could not confirm the exact number by press time. The government is now seeking to forfeit five parcels of land allegedly purchased by Su with the proceeds she netted from TVU tuition. The school, founded by Su in 2008, has been accused by ICE and by the Department of Homeland Security as being a front for illegal immigration. ICE, however, listed TVU on its Web site as an approved university for foreign students for three months after it raided the institution.
TVU had no classrooms and allegedly conducted all of its coursework online.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, deportation proceedings were initiated against 18 students on the day of the raid, all of whom were tagged with tracking devices that did not permit them to go beyond 50 miles of their residence. Immediately after ICE raided TVU, the immigration status of all of the F-1 international students either attending there or about to enter for the January term was placed in jeopardy. Students' records were immediately frozen and subsequently most of their records were terminated. A 22-page indictment issued April 28 by a federal grand jury in Oakland, Calif., listed 33 counts against Su, including charges of laundering more than $3.2 million in fees from its 1,500 students who were mostly from India. The indictment states that between February 2009 and September 2010, Su took in $1,159,656 in Paypal transactions and $1,776,036 in credit card payments, along with smaller amounts of cash and wire transfers. The university opened its doors in April 2008, approximately 10 months before it received federal approval to accept foreign students, who made up the bulk of its alumni. Students were charged about $7,300 per year of study, and could not transfer out until they had completed at least two semesters at TVU. Su has placed a note to her former students on the university's Web site: "The final message from Ms. Su as TVU's President is an ENCOURAGEMET (sic) to you all to MOVE ON! Let me give the closure by reminding and ensuring you all that: after the darkest moment is the dawn--- a new day with the sun rising and shining!"