At yesterday’s initial appearance for one of two Saipan-based defendants, U.S. District Court for the NMI Designated Judge David Wiseman appointed F. Matthew Smith to represent, Miss Ya Jing Pei.
The other defendant, Mr. Feng Dong, was released on a $25,000 bail. He will have his own counsel.
In his 85-page affidavit, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent David A. Patch, who is assigned to the Asian/Eurasian Criminal Enterprise Squad of the Chicago Division of the FBI, said some Chinese and Korean nationals typically obtain Social Security cards through fraudulent means.
In Illinois, Patch said an SS number is necessary to get a driver’s license.
“As part of a typical fraudulent document operation, an undocumented foreign national customer will usually coordinate with a ‘broker’ to obtain fraudulent personal identification documents and, in furtherance of that process, will provide a personal passport photograph to the broker,” said Patch.
“In turn, this broker will coordinate with a ‘manufacturer’ who will alter a counterfeit or authentic passport to obtain the customer’s photograph and will manufacture a new biographical page for the passport to match the identity associated with an authentic Social Security account card for a third party,” he added.
During the course of their investigation, Patch said some of the illegal aliens had SS numbers with the prefix 586 which were issued on Saipan.
A court-sanctioned sting operation led investigators to Saipan-based defendants Dong and Pei.
The two are believed to be selling SS cards to illegal aliens in Illinois.
Patch said there is probable cause to establish that the two sold more than five SS cards.
Mail packages with ties to the two were also intercepted with SS cards inside.
Each card could be sold up to $4,000.
“Feng Dong also advised agents that between approximately late 2007 or early 2008 and 2009, Feng Dong mailed approximately five to six parcels to Ya Jing Pei’s friend in the U.S…. Feng Dong had mailed a total of approximately 300 Social Security cards to Ya Jing Pei’s friend but is not absolutely certain regarding the total number of cards mailed,” Patch said.
At its peak, the Saipan garment manufacturing industry employed over 17,000 Chinese workers.
The garment factories closed one after another between 2006 to 2009 after the liberalization of international trade rules.
Garment manufacturers on Saipan had since shifted their operations to developing countries that offer cheaper labor.
