5 Years, Fine Given for Smuggling Chinese
A Fountain Valley man was sentenced to more than five years in prison Thursday for his role in an elaborate series of schemes to smuggle undocumented immigrants from China into the United States for as much as $60,000 apiece.
Claud Wei, 44, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna to pay a $20,000 fine.
Before 9/11, Wei and several co-conspirators recruited U.S. citizens to fly to Japan, where they would obtain return boarding passes that would then be given to illegal immigrants, prosecutors said.
When airport security was tightened in 2001, the group resorted to more traditional smuggling techniques, such as bribery.
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