Claims that the United Nations will soon partition land in Southeast Asia for a new Hmong nation sums up an Internet pitch that has sparked an FBI investigation into potentially fraudulent land sales.
The claims are made by pitchmen for the Hmong independence organization dubbed Hmong Tebchaws. The name loosely translates to “Hmong Country” or “Hmong Land.”
Federal investigators met with Hmong leaders at the Lao Family Foundation headquarters on University Avenue in St. Paul last week to warn them about land sale advertisements that have no basis in reality.
“We wanted to be sure we notified the Hmong community … to make them aware there is a potential fraud situation involving land sales in the country of Laos,” said Kyle Loven, chief counsel for the FBI’s Minneapolis division.
“I’m not going to name any entities or individuals, but obviously the FBI became aware that there may be a situation involving potential fraud,” Loven said, adding that no charges have been filed.
“We are reviewing the facts as they exist,” he added. “That will determine what action we take going forward.”
ChuPheng Lee, former Lao Family Community board president, shared a meeting photo last week on Facebook and wrote that the FBI named the organization at the meeting and that agents told the community leaders it was a “fraudulent org.”
“They want the Hmong community to (share) the information to stop the scam … and urged victims to come forward,” he wrote.
Sia Lor, a Hmong translator in the Twin Cities, said he was designated to work with elders who do not speak English and put them in touch with federal investigators.
“The FBI and the Hmong 18 Council of Minnesota asked me to assist with that process,” said Sia Lor, when reached Monday. “They said, ‘We are looking to meet with people who would be willing to speak with us about this case.’ ”
The Hmong Tebchaws organization runs the promotional website HmongTebchaws.net, which offers a vision of Hmong self-determination in a far-off land.
The website includes online forms for “returning home,” under application categories such as individual, family, senior and divorced. It also has a donations section.
The Hmong News channel Suab Hmong News did a phone interview with pitchman Seng Xiong in April and posted it to Youtube under the title “What is Hmong country? It is scam or real?”
Critics have said the vision of a Hmong homeland plays on the hopes and sacrifices of an older generation of leaders, many of whom fought a losing battle against communism in Laos more than 40 years ago.
For some, that effort has never truly ended.
“I used to hear about this all the time probably 10, 15 years ago and further,” said Mark Pfeifer, editor of the Hmong Studies journal. “There used to be a lot of political fundraising related to that concept.”
When the U.S. lost the war in Vietnam, a CIA-led Hmong military base in Laos also fell, and thousands of Hmong fled through the jungles to avoid government persecution. Many lost loved ones crossing the Mekong River into Thailand, where they then spent years in refugee camps.
In the mid-1970s, the United Nations’ efforts to resettle the refugees led to Hmong families splitting up and relocating to far-flung corners of the world, including Australia, France, Germany, Argentina and the U.S.
Some 40 years later, many elders still dream of reuniting with friends and family in their homeland.
In June 2007, federal agents in California arrested former Gen. Vang Pao and jailed him for allegedly plotting to get military weapons into the hands of Hmong fighters and overthrow the Communist government of Laos.
Vang Pao — considered by many to be the George Washington of his people — was released a few days later, and all charges against him were dropped in 2009. He died in 2011 at the age of 81.
The HmongTebchaws.net website lists five members of the organization’s board of directors, including chair Thong Lee, vice chair La Pao Her and communications director Steve Moua.
Calls to the three men were not returned Monday.
An Oct. 1, 2014, Youtube video featuring Steve Moua dressed in traditional Hmong clothes and speaking at length about his vision for a new Hmong homeland has drawn 609 online comments in response, many of them volatile.
A woman wrote three weeks ago: “Steve Moua, how come when our … General Vang Pao (was) still here u (never) speak about Hmong Tebchaw (and) now he gone and you two are taking about how powerful Hmong (people are) … Maybe you two know that if u guys talked about this false information then our General Vang Pao will step in.”
Not everyone was as critical of Moua’s message. “Only dreamers get what they want. I am very appreciative of your hard work even though I know this is not gonna happen,” a man wrote eight months ago.
“At least these people are trying to do something for their people,” wrote another man.
In response to another of Steve Moua’s video pitches, an online commentator wrote: “Somebody got to shut this guy up.”
Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo.
