SANTA ANA, CALIF.
Law enforcement agents arrested an immigration attorney who tried to help a Chinese national get out of the United States after the woman had been designed as a witness in a criminal investigation of a “birthing houses” in Southern California, officials said.
Ken Zhiyi Liang, 38, of Irvine, was arrested Friday after accepting $6,000 from the witness in exchange for assisting her abscond to China.
In a criminal complaint filed Saturday, Liang was charged with attempted witness tampering, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
Liang is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Monday in U.S. District Court.
Officials allege that Liang helped two Chinese nationals who were also witnesses flee the United States.
Liang had represented the witness in the matter until the court removed him as attorney of record, over his objections, on April 17.
The federal investigation, which became known when authorities executed dozens of search warrants in early March, focuses on so-called birthing houses that provided services to Chinese nationals, who travelled from China to the U.S., for the purpose of giving birth to children, so that the children could obtain United States citizenship, according to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Liang, according to authorities.
During these conversations, officials said Liang outlined a plan in which he would assist the witness by having her board a commercial airliner in the United States without travel documentation, so she could escape to China undetected by federal authorities.
At one of the meetings, Liang told the witness that he could guarantee her safe return to China in exchange for a $6,000 fee for himself, and up to $3,000 to pay for help provided by three others.
During the meetings, Liang refused to provide a written contract to the witness and requested that she pay him in cash, delete text messages and call logs, and begin using a prepaid cellular phone for all future communications, according to the affidavit.
Unbeknownst to Liang, the witness was cooperating with federal agents, who were monitoring the conversations between Liang and the witness.
Liang was arrested by federal authorities as he was walking with the witness towards his car, supposedly to begin a trip to a coffee shop in Corona, where he was going to introduce the witness to the co-conspirators, who are not identified in the affidavit.
After his arrest, officials said Liang led agents back to his office, where he returned the $6,000 he had accepted from the witness.
According to the affidavi, the attorney provided assistance to two other witnesses – LongJing Yi, and her husband, Jun Xiao – who fled to the U.S. on April 4 and were subsequently charged in relation to their flight from the U.S., according to authorities.
March 3, 2015: KTLA report: