Queens Driving School Busted For Running Bribe-for-License Scam For Illegal Immigrants
A Queens driving school bribed DMV employees to illegally fast-track driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants—many of whom couldn’t drive or speak English—according to Staten Island prosecutors.
T&E Driving School allegedly took cash from Chinese immigrants and paid off DMV examiners in Staten Island to skip required road tests, District Attorney Michael McMahon said Tuesday at a press conference announcing "Operation Road Test", a joint investigation with Homeland Security and state officials, according to the NY Post.
“Our investigation found that T&E Driving School blatantly flouted the laws and procedures that are necessary to ensure the public safety on the road,” said George Ioannidis, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New York.
“As alleged, T&E utilized social media and strategic advertising to target exploited members of the Chinese community and guaranteed individual driver’s licenses regardless of their immigration status, language, and even their ability to operate a vehicle,” he added. “Moreover, these individuals were those who did not speak or understand English and may have believed that they all were taking necessary and legitimate steps.”
The scheme involved T&E owner Weixian Tan, secretary Weiwen Tan, employee Winnie Yang, and school driver Wenfeng Yang, who allegedly paid DMV examiners Aji Idicula, Tianna Rose Andolina, and Edward Tarik Queen to fraudulently approve licenses.
The NY Post writes that the examiners reportedly rubber-stamped applicants without administering road tests. “The number of tests given by an individual examiner can be about 1,500 a year,” said McMahon. “Two out of the three examiners have been working for four or five years, so we think this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
According to prosecutors, at least two dozen suspects are in custody, with another unnamed DMV employee included in a 49-page indictment. “We think that we are going to find hundreds if not thousands of people that have been part of this scam,” McMahon said.
He described the operation as “corrosively corrupt” and said DMV employees “brazenly betrayed their oaths of office.”
The defendants, facing charges of fraud, tampering, and theft, were arraigned and released without bail under New York’s 2019 bail reform laws. However, they were ordered to surrender their passports.
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