Kizzy Kalu held without bond in human trafficking scheme involving bogus university
Highlands Ranch resident Kizzy Kalu has been ordered detained without bond -- an indication that he's considered a flight risk. And that makes perfect sense given the allegations against him. He and a fellow defendant have been indicted on 132 counts, most involving claims that they lured foreign nationals to the states with stories about jobs at a completely fictional university, then put them to work in different gigs and taking more than a third of their wages.
Kizzy Kalu.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Kalu, 47, operated a company called Foreign Healthcare Professional Group (FHPG), which recruited nurses from other countries to work as teaching professionals and supervisors at an institution dubbed Adam University. They were supposed to be paid salaries of between $68,000 and $72,000 per annum.
Only problem: Adam University only exists in the imagination of Philip Langerman, Kalu's accused 77-year-old co-conspirator, who is still at large at this writing. But instead of being told that the school was make-believe, hopefuls were instead funneled into positions at long-term-care facilities with which FHPG had contracted.
Philip Langerman.
No surprise that these gigs paid less than half of the initially promised salary -- a situation supposedly exacerbated by FHPG siphoning off a whopping 35 percent of the pay.
What happened to those who didn't much like this deal? According to authorities, Kalu threatened to rat out whiners to federal immigration agencies.
Foreign Healthcare Professional Group wasn't Kalu's only enterprise. He's also reportedly the chief executive officer of Global Energy Initiatives, whose website boasted about the manufacture and distribution of hydro-kinetic power generators to countries across the globe. As a representative of this organization, Kalu and his wife, Nicole, took part in an energy conference at the White House this past September. Here's a photo of the pair from his now-vanished Facebook page:
GEI's website is gone now as well, and so is one for Global Village Hope Foundation, which specialized in volunteerism-related tourism opportunities. Its slogan: "You are the hope for the hopeless."
Right now, it's Kalu who could use some hope. He's facing as much as twenty years in prison for counts that include human trafficking and forced labor.
Look below to see a 7News report about Kalu and company.
Follow and like the Michael Roberts/Westword Facebook page.
More from our Colorado Crimes archive: "Brooks Kellogg, 73, accused of trying to hire hit man to kill opponent in real estate lawsuit."
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
