Federal prosecutors charged a Chinese man on Wednesday with a bizarre and dastardly plot to try to ruin his former landlord’s immigration status by registering and casting a ballot in his name in Massachusetts, then reporting him to Homeland Security for it.
Investigators said Yupeng Sun was seeking revenge on the landlord after being charged with assault and battery on the man’s daughter, and then later evicted from the property.
The charges were dropped but authorities said the incidents launched Mr. Sun on a campaign of retaliation that saw him try to get his landlord and wife, Chinese citizens here with green cards, deported.
When that failed, authorities say Mr. Sun registered as a voter under his landlord’s name. Mr. Sun then cast a ballot under that identity in the 2024 election, then submitted repeated anonymous tips to DHS reporting the illegal vote.
Investigators interviewed Mr. Sun last month and said he admitted to much of the scam, including registering and voting in his landlord’s name, then making the anonymous tips.
“I used his name to vote,” Mr. Sun said, according to court documents.
He told investigators he was angry because “the sub-landlord abused me.”
Investigators also connected Mr. Sun’s iPad to a request to track the postal service packages containing anonymous tips to DHS.
Using the immigration system against an associate is not uncommon, though usually the target is here illegally.
The allegations against Mr. Sun go much further, accusing him of orchestrating the illegal conduct that he then tried to use against a legal permanent resident.
Mr. Sun faces one count of fraudulent registration and one count of fraudulent voting.
Court documents say he came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2020, which expired in 2021. He is now here under a Biden-era leniency for people who filed petitions for victim visas. He filed that application in 2022.
The lead investigator on the case is Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Andrew DePatto. Agent DePatto used to be elections coordinator for the Town of Saugus, giving him in-depth knowledge of registration and voting procedures.
The charges don’t cover the alleged attempt to have the landlord deported, but Agent DePatto’s affidavit detailed that as part of the crazy chain of events.
He said someone filed an application with DHS in April 2024 purporting to be the landlord, identified in court documents by initials JL, and his wife, YL. The application said they were abandoning their green cards.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processed the request and immediately approved the abandonment.
When JL and YL flew into the U.S. in June 2024 from a trip abroad, they were stopped by customs officers and put into deportation proceedings as unauthorized arrivals.
They challenged their deportation, arguing the abandonment was forged. They were backed by a handwriting expert who testified that JL and YL had not filed the form.
The couple had quickly identified Mr. Sun as the likely culprit.
The immigration judge presiding over the case restored their green cards this January.
Three months later, the anonymous tips about illegal voting came in.
The Washington Times has sought comment from Massachusetts election officials for this story.
Agent DePatto was involved in another case brought in May against a Canadian citizen accused of casting illegal votes in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024.
That case has yet to go to trial.
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