Articles Tagged with investors

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Two Los Angeles County residents have been charged for their alleged involvement in an immigration scheme allowing them to illegally obtain $1.5 million from Chinese nationals with the false promise of visas.

34-year-old West Covina resident Nianfei Bu, and 37-year-old Hourong Zhang, from Rowland Heights, were taken into custody on Thursday after purportedly pilfering cash from Chinese nationals in 2015 and 2016.

Bu and Zhang allegedly told seven people that if they invested money in one of several five restaurants of which Bu is the proprietor they would be given visas. The money was allegedly taken from the unknowing investors by Bu and Zhang, but the visas were never produced.

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Angel Bronsgeest, a 55 year old woman from Lake Forest, plead guilty on Monday to federal charges of being involved in a real estate scam that cost Southern California investors $3.5 million, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

Bronsgeest admitted that she, along with Shawn Watkins, a 46 year old man from Utah, would allegedly solicit the victims at Orange County hotel seminars and ask them to invest in their company, The Equity Growth Group. The two claimed that their company managed hundreds of properties, generating income from their rents, which was used to buy new properties. The investors were told they would be getting interest payments and that their money was secured by collateral through filing deeds of property trusts.

“Investor money was not used to acquire new properties, nor was it secured by collateral, and many victims did not receive interest payments. In fact, money that was paid to some victims as purported interest or a return on their investment came from investments made by other victims,” the Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

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