Author: yongfu

2020 Mergers and Acquisitions

Post author By yongfu
Post date May 14, 2020

Our firm, Lei Jiang LLC, started 2020 with a good volume of deals and mergers and acquisitions. We continue to handle a variety of deals. In January, we successfully concluded an acquisition of a US college by a Canadian educational group. Then we put several deals together before COVID-19 spread in the US. They included a recycling company’s expansion and acquisition and several restaurant acquisitions. Currently, we are in the midst of a Chinese metal company’s second phase acquisition of a US company.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down M&A activity due to uncertainty in valuations and companies focusing on liquidity and cost efficiencies, we expect to see more activities in three categories taking place:

Well-funded strategic buyers using this opportunity to build sizeable positions in targets and /or attempt takeovers of undervalued companies;
Corporates selling or spinning off non-core assets to address liquidity, leverage and valuation issues;
Investors contributing capital in exchange for significant equity stakes in businesses in need of a recapitalization or with liquidity constraints.

If anything can be learned from the 2008-2009 financial crisis, we can expect a renewed use of equity as form of consideration for transactions among corporates. If you have any questions regarding M&A, please contact us. We specialize in international mergers and acquisitions and complex transactions.

For legal issues, please contact us.

Firm News

2019-2020 White Collar Crime- Ohio RICO Defense

Post author By yongfu
Post date May 14, 2020

We represented two of eighteen defendants in a complex criminal RICO case in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in 2019-2020. Eighteen defendants were charged with various crimes, including RICO and other serious felonies. Moreover, most of them were immigrants. Therefore, severe immigration consequences became important factors as well.

RICO refers to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act enacted first by the US federal government, then by many states. The federal RICO was enacted in 1970 and applies only to illegal activity involving interstate or foreign commercial. Since then, many states have adopted laws based on the federal statute. These statutes provide for extended criminal penalties as well as civil lawsuit for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. Acts include bribery, extortion, fraud, and murder. These laws allow the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes they ordered – this closed a perceived loophole that the boss did not actually commit the crime personally.

Since RICO is one of the most serious crimes, the burden of proof is onerous on criminal prosecutors, but if a prosecutor establishes a criminal RICO claim, the defendant goes to jail which may be for many years.

In this case, we obtained the desired results for our clients. We actively engaged the clients, filed all necessary motions, and conducted successful plea bargains. In the end, the clients did not go to jail, did not pay a fine, and received only very minor charges.

If you are charged, we can help. For legal issues, please contact us.

Uncategorized

Cases at Cleveland Immigration Court

Post author By yongfu
Post date February 23, 2020

In August and September 2019, Lei Jiang Law Firm accepted six immigration bail cases and defended these clients in the Cleveland Immigration Court. These six clients were all Chinese women. They were detained by the USCIS in July 2019 when the FBI, Ohio Bureau of Investigation, and local police raided multiple illegal massage parlors. Police have not charged them with any wrongdoing. The police did not charge them with any wrongdoing.

These six women came from New York and worked at a local massage parlor. They were all Asians with limited financial resources and did not speak English. Some of the women did not have any money, so our law firm provided our legal services for free. ‘Even though our legal services were free, we provided them with our consistent standard of high-quality service. We visited them in prison many times to better understand their specific situation, collected information, provided advice, and called other social workers to give them the necessary assistance. Some of them said they were tricked into coming to Ohio. Therefore, we also hired professionals in human trafficking to help them.

In court, attorney Lei Jiang successfully won the minimum bail for each lady. Thanks to our efforts, all six women were released and reunited with their families. But our work didn’t stop there. We continued to help them by providing them with useful information, connecting them with non-profit victim protection organizations in New York, and more. We were very grateful we could help them when they were in a desperate situation.

It’s not easy being an immigration court lawyer these days. US laws change quickly, the current climate is anti-immigration, and the courts are rarely sympathetic to immigration cases. Although such bail cases are not within the main business scope of our law firm, we maintain our original intention – to help those in need, to speak out for the disadvantaged, and to hold ourselves to the highest standards.

For legal issues, please contact us.

Firm News

Five Straight Years as Super Lawyers Rising Star

Post author By yongfu
Post date November 4, 2018

Ms. Jiang is once again selected as Super Lawyers Rising Star for 2019, an honor reserved for only 2.5% of lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice in their early years.

Ms. Jiang was first selected to the Ohio Rising Starts in 2015. Since then, she has continued the pursuit of excellence in the legal profession and has been selected as Rising Star continuously since.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The patented selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

The selection process for the Rising Stars list is the same as the Super Lawyers selection process, with one exception: to be eligible for inclusion in Rising Stars, a candidate must be either 40 years old or younger or in practice for 10 years or less.

Ms. Jiang is admitted to practice law in Ohio, New York, Michigan and Illinois. Since 2009, she has focused her practice on several legal areas including corporate law, real estate, immigration, intellectual properties, and litigation. We congratulate Ms. Jiang for her excellent work in these ever changing legal fields.

Firm News

A Complete Success in Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Post author By yongfu
Post date November 4, 2018

On September 27, 2018, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio’s ruling on all aspects in Rui He, et al. v. Davor Rom, et al. Case No. 17-3411. This marked a complete victory for Plaintiffs in this case. Plaintiffs-Appellees were led by attorney Lei Jiang in this appeal.

The case was initially filed as a class action. It was related to real estate. Defendant-Appellant Davor Rom and his various companies sold over three hundred (300) distressed real estate properties as highly lucrative investment opportunities to foreign investors from six continents. It was a large-scale fraudulent scheme which harmed more than 140 investors.

Subsequent to the Sixth Circuit decision, Defendants can now file an en banc rehearing request and even petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a hearing.

This was a very complex case involving a large amount of electronically stored information and international transactions, many parties, numerous linked parts, and intricate schemes. If your case is this complex and the stakes are this high, you certainly need a skilled litigation law firm to represent you. Please contact us.

Immigration

US Immigration Alert –

Post author By yongfu
Post date October 2, 2018

With less than two months before the mid-term elections, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the latest proposal on September 22, saying that for those applying for permanent legal residence status, the use of public benefits is a serious negative factor, and applicants may be denied green card. Those public benefits include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as food stamps, certain housing assistance, the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) for seniors, and more. In addition to not being able to qualify for benefits, the new proposal also considers certain health conditions such as mental health disorders, heart disease and cancer to be important considerations for “public charge”. This new proposal does not apply to some people, including families whose income is less than 15% of the official poverty line, refugees or asylum seekers and so on.

The new rule does not require congressional approval and takes effect in about two months. A 60-day public review process is required before it becomes effective. Stephen Miller, the White House’s top immigration adviser, sees getting tough on immigration as a winning strategy for Republican candidates. So focusing on public benefits at this time, emphasizing their misuse by immigrants, is often an effective way to motivate conservative supporters. The Trump administration hopes the measure will keep Republicans in control of both houses of Congress for the remainder of Trump’s two-year term.

Reprinted from the official website of the Department of Homeland Security and other information.

Firm Immigration News

Successful Criminal Defense in a Michigan State Court

Post author By yongfu
Post date April 29, 2018

On April 27, 2018, one of our cases was dismissed by 67^th District Court, Case no. 17TA0776. Our client was charged with a felony crime. After good effort on part of the attorneys, we successfully got the case dismissed. The client is free of all charges.

Our client is exuberated over the result. It is especially important due to her immigration status. Thereafter, she gave our legal service a “5” star rating. To see other clients’ rating of us online, please go to https://www.avvo.com and find attorney Lei Jiang. More than 50 clients have rated legal service provided by our lead counsel, Ms. Lei Jiang, a five star service!

Whether it is a criminal or civil case, we handle your case with the uttermost care and our best effort. If you or your company need a competent law firm to handle disputes or litigation, please contact us.

Immigration News

A Possible Path for International Entrepreneurs

Post author By yongfu
Post date December 29, 2017

On December 14, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would take steps to implement the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) in accordance with a court decision on December 1, 2017.

IER was published during the Obama administration to provide an unlimited number of international entrepreneurs a new opportunity to apply for parole, enter the U.S. and use American investments to establish and grow start-up businesses.

Since this is parole, it is a discretionary grant made by the Secretary of Homeland Security and is granted only on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, the Trump administration has made it clear that parole should be used scarcely.

While DHS implements the IER, it is also proceeding with issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to remove the IER.

Firm News

Four straight years being rated by Super Lawyers

Post author By yongfu
Post date December 17, 2017

Ms. Jiang is once again selected to Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2018, an honor reserved for only 2.5% of lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice in their early years.

Since being admitted to the Ohio bar in 2009, Ms. Jiang has focused her practice on several legal areas such as corporate law, real estate, immigration, intellectual properties, and litigation. Passion has always been a key ingredient in Ms. Jiang’s practice. “It is hard work,” Ms. Jiang agrees, “but I love it because I can help, because it is rewarding, and it is also intellectual stimulating.” We hope Ms. Jiang continues this track of excellence and be a leader in these ever changing legal fields.

Immigration News

Changes to Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-129 Petitions

Post author By yongfu
Post date December 17, 2017

On October 12, 2017, USCIS changed the direct filing addresses for certain petitioners of Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. The changes are as follows:

Petitioners now file Form I-129 according to the state where the company or organization’s primary office is located. Previously, petitioners filed Form I-129 based on the beneficiary’s temporary employment or training location.

Petitioners located in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas now file Form I-129 at the California Service Center.

Starting November 11, 2017, USCIS may reject Form I-129s that are filed at the wrong service center.