On Friday, the Los Angeles Times published a story rehashing previous articles that have since been contested and mostly centering on a year-old lawsuit against the school. That lawsuit, alleging that students were confined and forced to do unpaid labor, has been dismissed and stayed.
The sensationalist story was further contradicted when a commenter with the username "caotingbo"—which matches the name of the main source for the article, Tingbo Cao—claimed he was the subject of the article and that he was not confined by any "wall," directly contradicting allegations that students were "physically trapped" at the Bible college, which has campuses in Southern and Northern California. Instead, he claimed he was not trapped in the school but solely in his "mind."
The article failed to recognize any of the previous reports they reviewed, which have addressed and discredited this issue already. The story also failed to distinguish between Olivet University's two California campuses, or to specify who was trapped where, and how, at either campus. Although, according to the story's photo captions, the reporter drove to the school's main gate, the school stated that the reporter never contacted the school for an appointment or to ask to enter the campus.
Fake 911 Call - Police Report Contradicts Claims of Confinement
The "22-year-old student" was in fact a female student from India who had been suspended for failing grades and student conduct violations, requiring her to return to her home country.
The police report, contrary to the article's recounting of the incident, states that the Anza campus didn't have any walls preventing exit and there was "no reason" for the female to be unable to leave the property. It also records that the school had arranged transportation for the student. The detailed police report includes the school vehicle's license plate number and the time scheduled for the airport ride.
A local newspaper reported on this same 911 call two years ago, claiming that the female student, Rebecca Singh, was held captive at the school. The story was published with inadequate fact checking. Then, eyewitnesses came forward, including a friend who had accompanied Singh to the airport, contradicting the article's narrative. The local newspaper was forced to retract large portions of the story and ultimately deleted the entire article due to gross inaccuracies and falsehoods.
According to reports, Singh's suspension followed numerous infractions while living on campus, such as stealing from dorm residents, causing disturbances at night, and forging a doctor's note to be excused from exams. School officials say she traveled out of state before completing the minimum coursework required, in violation of international student visa rules. This also contradicts her claim of having been confined to the campus.
After being suspended, however, she was required to return to her home country of India. Sources believe the reason she called 911 and filed a false report of confinement was to avoid this and to create a reason to remain in the U.S. longer.
Factual Errors
In a statement, Olivet University rebutted the claims made in the article, clarifying several points. First, according to the school, the reporter did not distinguish between two different campuses. The headline claimed students were "confined," yet the Northern California campus, where Tingbo resided, has no barrier or gate separating it from the public. It is an open campus overlooking the San Francisco Bay, located in Marin County, one of the most luxurious and wealthiest places to live in America.
Contrary to the article's account, most of the Southern California campus is open. The campus's porous barriers are one of the reasons police dispatch logs determined the 911 call in 2018 to be false. The police saw that anyone could easily move in and out of the campus at any time.
The school said it does not prevent students from leaving the campus, adding that while Tingbo was in San Francisco, he attended a church of his own choosing outside the campus instead of the school's chapel.
The school also said that it absolutely does not force students into free or low-paying labor and never has.
Further, the school pointed out numerous other errors in the article, including the statement that the school did not respond for comment when, in fact, it did provide a response.
One of the central claims in the article was that the school had borrowed money from Tingbo and failed to repay it. However, the school denies ever borrowing money from or employing this individual. His wife did work for the school in a clerical capacity, and it was confirmed that she was paid for her work.
Tingbo Influenced by Bin (Stephen) Wu, a Follower of Guo Wengui
According to former friends of Tingbo, he lived at the Northern California campus fully sponsored for many years, together with his family. Tingbo had been staying in the U.S. with Optional Practical Training (OPT) status, which was set to expire in early 2025. "We were having friendly conversations about his next steps in life, but one day he suddenly began claiming that the school owed him money and using the term 'human trafficking,'" one of them said.
At the time of his abrupt change in behavior, Tingbo was in contact with an individual named Wu Bin, a follower of the Chinese personality-cult of Guo Wengui (an individual convicted in July of fraud worth hundreds of millions of dollars and known for his conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines). Bin, a strict anti-vaxxer, has faced domestic abuse charges over keeping his children from school and physically assaulting his wife, and was under a court restraining order for these abuses. In recent years, Bin worked in a slaughterhouse in the U.S. as a special means to acquire a permanent visa. To maximize his chances of staying, he reportedly applied for an asylum visa as well. Already rejected once, he applied for asylum again in an attempt to stay permanently in the U.S.
Wu Bin's influence appears to have played a role in Tingbo's decision to make sudden accusations against the school, with the aim of securing a long-term stay in the U.S. Bin is said to have facilitated the connection between Tingbo and Sophia Yu.
Sophia Yu, the Alleged T-Visa Orchestrator
Sophia Yu, also known by aliases including Jihee Yu and Sophie Yu, allegedly ran away with a New York company founded and managed by school alumni and associates and recently created an attack video against the school with the help of pro-North Korea media. The video was taken down by all major video platforms due to illegal content but reappeared hosted on a hidden server. She is likely the "anonymous" source in the story and the provider of the misinformation. People familiar with the issue were "100% confident" that she is the source.
Yu eventually relocated to Irvine, California, where she appears to have conspired with the four students who filed the later demurred lawsuit against the school, and there are allegations that she has been recruiting other students to join her alleged T-Visa brokering scheme (the T-Visa is a path to permanent residency in the U.S. for victims of human trafficking).
A key witness has recently emerged regarding Yu's role as a suspected T-Visa broker. According to the witness, who formerly worked closely with Tingbo, Yu contacted Tingbo and had an in-depth conversation in which she promised to provide accommodation and possible financial support if he would just do as she told him. The witness claimed that Tingbo's response was to repeatedly express his thanks and agreement. Tingbo now resides in proximity to Yu in Irvine or a nearby location.
A school source familiar with the situation said, "We believe that he has relocated near Sophia. We have seen this pattern before. Sophia first scares the target by saying the school will harm them, which she does in order to isolate, control, and prevent them from communicating openly, while she herself remains hidden. After she cuts off the person's ties with the school, she relocates them to her vicinity to further influence them. Tingbo is the victim of Sophia Yu, not of the school. The school has, in fact, provided scholarships, accommodation, food and free education for his children. Tingbo has also stated previously that Sophia Yu's intention was to bring the school down."
Yu's Irvine Network
Yu also appears to be connected to a series of articles over the past two years lobbing accusations of human trafficking against the school. After years of hiding in the shadows, the anonymous group behind those accusations was revealed to be three ESL students from Venezuela and one from Spain. Their identities were brought to light in a civil lawsuit filed against the school via an Irvine-based lawyer. Among those involved in the lawsuit is Rebecca Singh, who made the false 911 report.
The students first asked the school for $300,000 each in exchange for the withdrawal of their claims. This extortionate request was immediately rejected by the school despite the plaintiff's attorney lowering the amount to $200,000 each, because these claims were absolutely false according to a school official.
Upon request, these ESL students immediately received transfer-out forms endorsed by the school, according to the school official. This demonstrates they were able to leave at any time, contradicting the claims made in their lawsuit.
A source at the school said, "What this endorsement says is that the students already had freedom and this document proves it, so there was no need for lawsuits or other noisy controversies in the first place."
The school is investigating the source of the legal fees for the lawsuit. It is also looking into whether the lawsuit was instigated by a particular individual suspected of conspiring against the school.
Sources close to the matter say that the key complainant among these students subsequently dropped out of the lawsuit. She did so following advice from her mother, who is a lawyer. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and stayed.
During this process, the accusations of "human trafficking" morphed into "labor trafficking," according to the school. The students' connections to Yu also became apparent.
Gaming the U.S. T-Visa System
A common fact pattern has emerged for all the students associated with Yu. The four students who sued the school abruptly left school without notice, sought permanent visas to stay in the U.S., then lodged false accusations against the school. They appear to have applied for T-Visas.
The same appears to be true for Tingbo, who left the school abruptly after speaking with Yu. He then began to make false accusations against the school, while seeking to stay in the U.S. permanently. His actions are consistent with someone seeking to apply for a T-Visa.
These circumstances have raised suspicions that Yu may be brokering T-Visas for disaffected students who want to stay permanently in the U.S. If true, this pattern of activity would be a troubling abuse of U.S. laws and regulations meant to protect real human trafficking victims.
School's Response to the False Accusations
A school official commented, "The school has endured numerous attacks based on false information. At last, the full picture has emerged. Now we can get to the bottom of this and clear the air. We also would like to state once again that the university has received no indication from any state or federal investigators that the school is under any human trafficking investigation, let alone finding anything that has substantiated the veracity of these false claims."
