Alhambra : New Fraud Charges Filed

An Alhambra woman who was arrested in June for charging Asian immigrants thousands of dollars, falsely promising them residency documents in return, now faces new charges after eight more victims came forward with similar allegations, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said.

The original 15-count criminal complaint, filed June 17, alleged that Lo-Li Gregor promised “equivalent status for U.S. citizenship” and “green card guarantee certificates” to six victims, charging them a total of $30,000 for documents that were either fraudulent or that never materialized.

One Los Angeles woman paid Gregor $14,500 to bring her family over from mainland China, authorities said.

Gregor was released on her own recognizance after being arrested June 22 at her Alhambra home. Since then, eight other Chinese victims have come forward in the Los Angeles area, alleging that Gregor bilked them out of $11,000, Deputy City Atty. P. Greg Parham said.

Gregor, who did business as Hsin-Mei Investment and Immigration Co. out of offices on Wilshire Boulevard and in Alhambra, is not a legitimate immigration consultant, Parham said.

In addition to 13 counts of misdemeanor grand theft, Gregor faces 17 counts of making false and misleading statements about immigration law in advertisements she placed in the Chinese press.

She also faces five counts each of illegally engaging in the business of immigration consultant and failing to provide a written contract, and six counts of making false and misleading statements in the capacity of an immigration consultant, Parham said.

A pretrial hearing is set for Aug. 23.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service also is investigating allegations that Gregor charged Chinese immigrants $2,500 each for fraudulent identification cards purporting to guarantee legal residency.