Ringleader sentenced for driver's license fraud
A man who allowed an estimated 300 illegal immigrants to fraudulently obtain Georgia driver's licenses has been sentenced to prison.
Ken Li, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced Monday to four years and two months in prison by U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten in Atlanta. Li, with the help of others who were also convicted in the scheme, attracted illegal immigrants through ads in Chinese language newspapers. They would meet in Atlanta parking lots and then be taken to driver's license bureaus in Colquitt or Thomasville where an examiner, being paid $500 for each illegal license, would issue the licenses without requiring any proper documentation, federal prosecutors said.
Georgia Department of Driver Services records indicate that approximately 300 licenses were fraudulently issued during the conspiracy. Three of Li's co-conspirators were previously sentenced. This includes former DDS examiner Cleveland Spencer, 47, of Thomasville, who was sent to federal prison for two years, prosecutors said.
The case was investigated by special agents of the FBI.
About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
