A Vietnamese man who allegedly abused official power to commit real estate fraud was arrested after he flew into Washington Dulles International Airport and U.S. authorities began investigating him for visa fraud.
An Interpol notice had been in effect for 41-year-old Quan Anh Nguyen for fraud offenses. He had been wanted in Vietnam for misusing a government position, fraud and bribery, according to Steve Sapp, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection. Vietnamese media reports indicate he fled that country after police began investigating him.
But his plans unraveled when he was being questioned by CBP officers after he arrived at Dulles on a flight from Berlin on Feb. 23. CBP officers performed records checks that showed the Interpol notice and that Nguyen was wanted for “abusing positions and powers while performing official duties” and “defrauding citizen’s property,” according to court documents.
Nguyen admitted in an interview that he had been arrested and convicted of fraud in Vietnam in 1999 and was currently facing charges for real estate fraud, the documents say.
In multiple applications Nguyen made seeking visas to the United States between August 2008 and January 2012, he said he had never been arrested or convicted of a crime.
A criminal complaint charging him with making false statements in a visa application was filed in federal court in Alexandria last week.
CBP determined that Nguyen shouldn’t be admitted to the United States because he had committed crimes involving “moral turpitude” and “fraud and willful misrepresentation,” court records say.
The current case appears to have involved former officials from Vinh Phuc province and Vinh Yen city and fraudulent investment projects, according to Vietnamese news reports. Interpol did not respond to a request for comment.
Sapp said he had no information on the 1999 arrest. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
Nguyen told CBP agents that he hadn’t disclosed the 1999 case because he believed it was a civil matter, court documents say.
