LOS ANGELES (Pacnews) — A man who ran a fraudulent scheme to sell Marshall Islands passports to Asians has been sentenced to nearly three years’ imprisonment in Los Angeles.
Tommy Ho Ching Cheng sold Marshall Islands passports for $30,000 each to people from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, telling then they could be used to gain visa-free entry into the U.S.
Under the 1985 law creating the Republic of the Marshall Islands, citizens and long-term residents of the country are allowed to enter the U.S. as non-immigrants and are able to establish residency there. But Cheng’s customers were fooled. Because they are neither citizens nor long-term residents of the Marshall Islands, the special privileges afforded Marshallese in the U.S. would not be available to them.
In October last year, Cheng pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Between 1993 and 1996, he made around $2.5 million from the passport scam, but underreported his income to the Internal Revenue Service. He was ordered to pay $1 million to victims of his scheme.
