Man accused in tra∞cking case denies luring nurses to the U.S.

A man accused of trafficking in forced labor told jurorsMonday hemade sure the foreign nurses he recruited and helped get visas knewhowmuch theywould makewhen they got to the United States.

Kizzy Kalu, who is on trial in U.S. District Court in Denver, said that in his dealings with the nurses, most ofwhomwere fromthe Philippines, he was “transparent.”

“You don’t make money by bringing them here; you make money by them working in the program,” he said. “I communicated a lot with them so theywould knowwhat the program was.”

Prosecutors say Kalu lured nurses to the U.S. with promises of positions paying from $68,000 to $72,000, then demanded they give him up to $1,200 a month or lose the H1-B visas that allowed them to work here.

Kalu, a Highlands Ranch businessman, was working as a recruiter at Teikyo Loretto Heights University, where he met Philip Langerman, who was also a recruiter at the school on South Federal Boulevard.

The government alleges they promised the nurses high-paying positions withAdamUniversity, a school in name only, where they would work as nursing instructor/supervisors.

When the nurses arrived, they found there was no school, and Kalu placed them in nursing homes where their duties were those of regular registered nurses.

“I was to recruit overseas and help nurses navigate the process and do whatever they had to do to come to the United States,” he said.

A document shown in court informed potential nursing recruits that his company, ForeignHealthCare Professionals Group, served more than 50 nursing facilities in Colorado.

On questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Beth Gibson, Kalu said he didn’t have a commitment from those facilities to hire nurses from his program. Instead, he said, the facilities had demonstrated an interest in the program.

“So the word ‘serve’ to you means may be willing to hire?” Gibson said.

Kalu said he invested heavily in developing the business that arranged for nurses to come to the U.S.

He had to pay Denise Perez, a lawyer who specialized in immigration matters, for advice and help in arranging visas, he said. And when nurses arrived, he said he temporarily paid their rent and furnished their apartments.