The Taiwanese diplomat who pleaded guilty to a charge of violating a US federal labor law in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday may have to wait months before she can be released after the judge presiding over the case delayed ruling on a plea bargain agreement.
The ruling was a setback for Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍), director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, who has been detained since Nov. 10, when she was arrested on charges of underpaying and overworking her Filipino housekeeper.
US prosecutors accused Liu of fraudulently hiring two Philippine housekeepers for her residence. One was employed in 2009 and last year, and the other from March 6 to August this year. By pleading guilty, Liu admitted she fraudulently entered into employment contracts with two housekeepers and that she did not intend to comply with the stated terms, US prosecutors said in a press release.
Photo: CNA
After Liu waived her right to a grand jury trial at a detention hearing on Wednesday, she signed a plea agreement with prosecutors, but US District Judge David Gregory Kays did not accept the plea agreement at Friday’s hearing.
Kays said he would consider the plea agreement and a pre-sentencing investigation report, which could take about three months to complete. Liu is to remain in custody while the judge considers the plea agreement.
The Kansas City Star reported Kays asking in the hearing: “Did you do this in your official capacity or as a private individual?” and “Did you use your title when you signed your name [to the contract]?” — to which Liu replied: “No.”
Liu’s answer seemingly contradicted a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when it first responded to Liu’s arrest that the employment of the housekeeper was related to Liu’s official duties and that the housekeeper did not come under the purview of Liu’s personal life.
The two housekeepers were both paid by the ministry.
When about Liu’s contention that the housekeeper was not hired under her official position, the ministry’s spokesman James Chang (章計平) said in Taipei that “he respected” what Liu had said.
At the conclusion of Friday’s hearing, Liu paid a total of US$80,044 in full restitution to the two victims, which accounts for the hours they worked based on a schedule of 16 to 18 hours of work per day over six-and-a-half days a week.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Taipei and Liu would jointly recommend a sentence of time served, which would trigger Liu’s immediate deportation from the US upon sentencing.
Liu remains in federal custody until her sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
The two housekeepers have been proven to be victims of a severe form of human trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, US prosecutors said.
“As a result, they will receive government support for a T visa, which would allow, among other benefits, them to legally remain and work in the US,” they said.
After the “waiver and plea hearing,” Liu’s lawyer Jim Wirken said his client seemed uneasy about the hearing’s outcome.
Wirken had hoped Kays would agree at the hearing to a 24-point plea bargain deal negotiated by him and US Assistant Attorney Cynthia Cordes, who recommended a sentence of time served and deportation.
According to the Kansas City Star, Liu appeared in court on Friday in a prison-issued jumpsuit with her hands and feet shackled, unlike the hearing on Wednesday, in which she appeared unshackled and dressed in street clothes.
Wirken said he had requested that Liu be permitted to wear street clothes, but that Kays had decided that she be treated no differently from any other defendant in pre-trial detention, according to the paper.
Chang said the ministry felt “deeply grieved” that Liu had to wear a prison jumpsuit and be shackled.
“Liu is our director-general of a Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the US. She should be accorded due respect,” he said.
Liu’s case has been characterized by the ministry as a personal incident rather than one in which the US government failed to treat a Taiwanese diplomat with due respect and to follow due process during its investigation into the allegations against Liu.
The shift coincidently came after Wirken’s first meeting with Liu on Wednesday and followed discussions with ministry officials to devise strategies to settle the case.
Additional reporting by CNA
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS