By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Federal authorities have decided not to file criminal charges against Olivet University in Anza, California, in effect dismissing allegations of human trafficking as not credible.  OU has argued that the trafficking claims were a scheme by four former international students to gain permanent residency illegally.  

The announcement came in a joint status report filed in the United States District Court Central District— Eastern Division on Tuesday.  

“This case has been on stay pursuant to California Civil Code § 52.5 and 18 U.S.C. § 1595. The parties have recently been informed by an agent from Homeland Security Investigations that no charges are going to be filed against Olivet University or anyone else affiliated with Olivet University that arise out of or are related to Plaintiffs’ claims,” the report says.

“There are no investigations against any Defendant that relates to Plaintiffs’ claims in this case that would require a stay under California Civil Code § 52.5 or 18 U.S.C. § 1595. The parties will work in good faith to submit a joint motion and proposed order to the court lifting the stay and providing a preliminary scheduling order for matters including the timing for responding to Plaintiffs’ operative complaint.”

A decision notice from the Homeland Security Investigations and the Assistant United States Attorney Office to not file criminal charges and to return items held as evidence to Olivet was reviewed by The Christian Post. 

Olivet University President Jonathan Park maintains the university’s previous position that the human labor trafficking allegations were part of a sophisticated T visa scheme that involves fraudulently using a human trafficking claim to convert a temporary visa into permanent residency.

“I commend Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for rightly issuing a declination of criminal charges against Olivet University. This decision affirms what we have consistently maintained: the accusations against our institution were false and unfounded,” Park declared.

The former Olivet University students behind the human labor trafficking allegations — Dawin Liranzo Galan, Roland Broccko, Minerva Ruiz and Rebecca Singh — claimed they were confined, surveilled and forced to work sometimes for free for more than 40 hours per week when they should have been studying at the Bible college on full scholarships.

In August, the University Herald reported that the students' civil lawsuit was dismissed, but the plaintiffs, who are now defendants in a countersuit from Olivet alleging fraud and deceit, amended their complaint and filed for a stay of their suit.

“The real danger came not from Olivet University, but from those who deliberately fabricated lies, manipulated the visa system, and colluded with certain media outlets to spread false narratives. Their goal was never justice — it was to destroy reputations, destabilize institutions, and benefit their own private agendas,” Park insisted.

“By manufacturing accusations and amplifying them through the press, they harmed not only Olivet University, but also public trust in the very systems meant to protect truth," he explained.

“Such bad actors are not simply adversaries of Olivet; they are a threat to society at large. When false reporting is weaponized to pressure government action, every citizen is placed at risk. When dishonest individuals exploit the visa system and then conceal their wrongdoing by blaming others, national security is weakened. When lies are repeated often enough, even without evidence, they endanger innocent lives and undermine democracy itself.”Besides the four students mentioned above, former Chinese students Tingbo Cao and Qilian Zhou have also made similar claims of being forced to work without pay for their education at Olivet University, according to an LA Times article. Cao and Zhou are not included in the civil lawsuit.    

In a letter to the San Francisco field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year, Olivet University attorneys requested an investigation of and punishment for Cao, Zhou and another woman identified as Sophia Yu “for the malicious and false human trafficking report ... in order to obtain a T-Visa.”

Yu, also known as Sophie or Jihee Yu, was the “mastermind behind the scheme” to fraudulently get T-visas, the attorneys alleged.

“Tingbo Cao and Qilian Zhou, a married couple, and former students of Olivet University’s San Francisco campus, have made a false report to the Department of Homeland Security (‘DHS’), claiming they were victims of human trafficking and labor exploitation. The couple’s intention was to obtain a T-Visa as their visas were expiring. The mastermind behind their actions is Sophia Yu, who is suspected to be affiliated with a pro-North Korea cell group,” the attorneys wrote.

Newsweek involvement allegations

The decision by HSI and the AUSA to drop the human trafficking case comes just three months after Olivet University filed a lawsuit accusing Newsweek’s Publisher and CEO Dev Pragad, and multiple staff members — Naveed Jamali, Dayan Candappa, Nancy Cooper, and Alex Rouhandeh — of “defamation” and “committing tortious interference against Olivet” in an ongoing business dispute over Newsweek’s ownership.

Olivet University alleges, among other things, that Pragad, who is a former member of World Olivet Assembly — a global denomination of Evangelical churches and para-churches affiliated with the school — conspired with Jamali, contributing editor-at-large; Candappa, chief content and strategy officer; Cooper, global editor in chief emeritus and advisor; and Rouhandeh, a congressional correspondent, to “leverage Newsweek’s significant brand power to lodge wild, criminal accusations against” his enemies at Olivet University. This campaign allegedly began in 2022 after Pragad failed to get the Church to force the investors who are also Olivet church members to “hand Newsweek ownership over to him for free.”

“As Publisher, Pragad threatened via text messages to ‘go to [the] media about Olivet’ to attack it with claims of ‘human trafficking’ if Olivet did not reach a ‘special arrangement’ by forcing its members to give Pragad full control of Newsweek. These text messages were sent only days before Rouhandeh, Cooper, Candappa, Jamali, and others began Newsweek’s systematic attack,” Olivet University states in their defamation lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division in June.

“Beginning on June 27, 2022, Pragad, Cooper, and Candappa orchestrated, wrote, edited, and published a series of 20 articles full of numerous false and defamatory statements detailing supposed criminal activity, associations, and investigations centering on Olivet. There are so many false and defamatory statements concerning Olivet throughout these articles that they are too numerous to count.”

Newsweek did not respond to a request from The Christian Post for comment on this report. 

Pragad is also facing another lawsuit filed in August this year for “breach of contract and specific performance” from six investors — Winnie Wong, Nancy Lee, Sylvia Lee, Younseok Choi, James Yang, and Moonsoo Jung — who alleged that they were part of a Joint Venture group that acquired Newsweek in 2013 and heavily invested in it until 2018.

They maintain that in 2018, Pragad tricked them into selling Newsweek to him by falsely claiming that government prosecutors suggested he should own Newsweek, while agreeing “internally amongst themselves they would co-own and co-manage the Newsweek assets for the benefit of the Joint Venture.”

The six investors in their lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of New York's Westchester County, alleged that Pragad "betrayed all of the investors" by raising his salary in 2021 to over $1.1 million and authorized a 300% bonus to himself that same year to over $3.5 million for a total of more than $4.7 million annual compensation, without board approval. The lawsuit also lists his purchase of a $3.4 million mansion, a Rolex, an expensive car and other luxuries, without returning profits to investors.  

Olivet receives zoning approval to expand 

Olivet University in Anza, which spans more than 900 acres, according to the school’s website, sits on a historic Indian sanctuary. The school offers a variety of full degree and certificate programs at its Anza headquarters, plus campuses in San Francisco, California; Washington, D.C.; St. Louis, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; and Orlando, Florida. In 2022, the campus the school ran in New York lost its permission to operate after the state's education department decided not to renew the school's expiring permit.

Despite the challenges faced by Olivet University, Riverside County’s General Plan Advisory Committee, the Planning Commission, and the Board of Supervisors recently gave the school unanimous zoning approval to expand on its current infrastructure.

This will include new buildings for academic instruction, student housing, worship, research and recreation, the University Herald reported.

"We're excited to grow in ways that align with our mission and benefit everyone," Park told the publication about the approval to expand. "This is more than a zoning change—it's a turning point for Christian higher education in Anza."