The defendant admitted her part in the scheme with administrators of the church, which is known as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, according to her plea agreement.
De Leon acknowledged that for eight years she helped commit marriage and visa fraud with the leaders of the church, which has a facility in Van Nuys.
De Leon is one of nine defendants charged in November in a 42-count indictment that alleges a labor-trafficking scheme that used fraudulently obtained visas to bring church members to the United States, where they were forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity. Prosecutors contend that the donations were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.
Members who proved successful at soliciting were forced to enter into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to acquire legal status in the U.S. so they could continue soliciting donations, the indictment alleges. The indictment also alleges a sex trafficking scheme that implicates the church’s leader, Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who was referred to as the “Appointed Son of God.”Three defendants, including Quiboloy, are fugitives believed to be in the Philippines, according to federal officials.
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