Chelsea career institute raided; officials arrested in fraud case
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A Chelsea career institute was raided Thursday morning and its top officials arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into student visa fraud.
The Micropower Career Institute's five campuses, including the headquarters in Chelsea, were shut down by Homeland Security agents, who also searched school offices in Mineola, Hauppauge, Jersey City and Newark.
The school's president, 60-year-old Suresh "Sam" Hiranandaney, was taken into custody. His brother, Samir Hiranandaney; vice presidents Lalit Chabria and Anita Chabria; and Seema Shah were also arrested.
The investigation centered on the school's English as a Second Language program.
Federal authorities believe the school did not report ESL students with F-1 visas who did not attend at least 80 percent of their classes. Students with F-1 visas are required to attend at least 18 hours of classes a week.
They are accused of falsified those students' records so the school could continue to collect federal education money for them.
James Hayes is part of a Homeland Security team of special agents involved three-plus year investigation, which peaked this morning. "As we look at the records, we've seized today, we're going to learn a lot more," said Hayes.
Sources say the majority of F-1 students at the Chelsea campus fell below the 80 percent attendance rate. There were more than 700 F-1 students enrolled at the Chelsea location, but only enough classroom space to fit 275.
"The school was indicating that yes, the students were physically present and taking classes when in fact those students were not taking those classes and in many cases had moved to other locations," said Hayes. "They are creating a vulnerability in that someone who wants to come into the US for purposes other than legitimate purposes, could be doing so."
The school also offers other classes that were not part of the investigation. Federal agents brought a U-Haul to the Chelsea school, as they seized file cabinets and boxes of evidence.
Jiadai Kon, a student, said, "I'm going to double check my visa, because it's going to affect my studies, my future."
