A Los Angeles paralegal has admitted to participating in an alleged conspiracy to illegally obtain United States residency for the supposed leaders of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), the US Department of Justice said Friday.
In a plea agreement filed at the United States District Court, Maria De Leon, 73, agreed to plead guilty to conniving with the church administrators for eight years by preparing and filing fraudulent documents to seek permanent residency and citizenship for the members of KOJC.
"At the time De Leon completed the immigration paperwork for certain KOJC members, she knew that the immigration paperwork was based upon false representations of the bona fides of the underlying marriages made by church officials," according to the plea agreement.
De Leon also admitted to submitting "fraudulent ‘Petitions for Alien Relative’ and related paperwork on behalf of KOJC members knowing or believing that the marriages were arranged for purposes of securing favorable immigration status."
The statement added that church members who are successful at soliciting were forced into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to acquire legal status in the U.S. so they could continue soliciting donations for the church.
Church members solicit donations in the U.S. as volunteers of a bogus charity called the Children’s Joy Foundation purportedly based in Glendale, California, it said.
De Leon is one of nine defendants who were charged in November 2021 in a 42-count superseding that alleges a labor trafficking scheme that used fraudulently obtained visas to bring KOJC members to the US, where they were allegedly forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity, the Glendale-based Children’s Joy Foundation (CJF).
The indictment alleges that the donations were used to finance church operations and its leaders' lavish lifestyles.
The superseding indictment also alleges a sex trafficking scheme that implicates Quiboloy, who was referred to as “The Appointed Son of God.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) earlier included Quiboloy and two other church members on its wanted list for sex trafficking charges.
De Leon is one of six defendants previously arrested in this case, the US Justice Department said. The five other defendants who have appeared in federal court in Los Angeles are scheduled to be tried on March 21, 2023, it added.
"Three of the defendants, including Quiboloy, are fugitives believed to be in the Philippines," the US Justice Department said.
The court is expected to set a schedule for a hearing for De Leon to formally enter her guilty plea to the conspiracy count. "Once she pleads guilty, De Leon will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison," the US Justice Department added.
The FBI is encouraging potential victims or anyone with information about KOJC activities to contact the FBI at (310) 477-6565 or via its website.
