LOS ANGELES – Behzad “Ben” Zaman was handed a two-year prison term and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for using English-language schools he ran as fronts for Russian prostitutes and other ineligible foreigners to obtain student visas.
Behzad “Ben” Zaman, 52, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles last February to visa fraud, conspiracy and other federal charges.
A naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran, Zaman operated the Concord English Language Center and the International College for English Studies, both on Wilshire Boulevard near downtown.
Prosecutors said Zaman, in exchange for cash payments, helped ineligible foreign nationals fraudulently obtain student visas.
“This flagrant violation of our immigration laws shows how greed can compromise our national security,” then-U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien said at the time of Zaman’s April 2008 arrest.
“We welcome legitimate students who want to take advantage of educational opportunities in America,” he said then. “We do not welcome individuals posing as students who have no intention of studying and who simply want to gain access to this country.”
Federal prosecutors said Zaman collected payments from Uzbekistan and Latvian nationals, and that some of the bogus students were prostitutes.
Records indicated the schools had 1,000 students in 2008, “a number that far exceeded their physical capacity and was not supported by investigators’ observations of people actually attending classes,” according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Along with the federal prison term and fine, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer ordered Zaman to serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennise Willett said.
