Former UN General Assembly President and Five Others Charged In $1.3 Million Bribery Scheme

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Diego Rodriguez, Assistant Director-In-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Thomas E. Bishop, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced today that former United Nations (“UN”) Ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda (“Antigua”) and President of the UN General Assembly (“UNGA”) JOHN W. ASHE, Deputy UN Ambassador for the Dominican Republic FRANCIS LORENZO, NG LAP SENG, a/k/a “David NG” (“NG”), JEFF C. YIN, a/k/a “Yin Chuan,” SHIWEI YAN, a/k/a “Sheri YAN,” and HEIDI HONG PIAO, a/k/a “Heidi Park,” were charged in connection with a multi-year scheme to pay more than $1.3 million in bribes to ASHE in exchange for official actions in his capacity as UNGA President and Antiguan government official in support of Chinese business interests. LORENZO, NG, YIN, YAN, and PIAO are charged with multiple bribery-related counts. ASHE is charged with tax fraud for failure to report or pay income taxes on the over $1 million he received in bribes in 2013 and 2014. YAN and PIAO are also charged with laundering bribery money from China. ASHE was arrested in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and LORENZO, YAN, and PIAO were arrested in New York, New York, this morning, and are scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV in Manhattan federal court later today. NG and YIN were previously arrested on September 19, 2015, based on a separate complaint alleging that NG and YIN agreed to make false statements to Customs and Border Protection officers about the true purpose of approximately $4.5 million in cash that NG and YIN had brought into the U.S. from China since 2013.