Olivet University
Chronology of Events Related to the Organization
Summer 2024
The history of the Olivet Organization and Olivet University dates back to the year 2000, when Korean-American cleric David Jang reportedly left the Unification Church in Korea, run by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, to start his own organization. Jang had been a professor of theology at a seminary of the church.
In the ensuing years, Jang spread the Olivet Community around the world, most notably in the U.S., where he established ten university campuses in seven states and the District of Columbia. They all have reportedly functioned as satellites of the university, based in the high desert town of Anza, CA. (1)
For years, California had done little to confront Olivet, even as other regulators cracked down on the university, accusing it of operating unlicensed campuses, making incomplete disclosures, mismanaging finances and failing to cut ties to criminal activity. (2)
Both New York and California found Olivet had broken various rules soon after the college pleaded guilty in 2020 to a money-laundering charge brought by the Manhattan District Authority. The charges resulted from an investigation begun in 2018. (3) (4)
Then, in 2022, New York shut down campuses in the state, saying the Evangelical Christian college was still largely run by a group of Jang disciples, linked to the 2018 criminal conspiracy. The New York Deputy Commissioner of Education cited “a pattern of mismanagement” in ending Olivet’s authorization to operate credit-bearing courses or programs in the state. And California imposed a $5,000 fine and requested a written policy to show how it would comply in the future. (5)
In 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a complaint with the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs, accusing Olivet of 14 violations of education regulations. The organization was accused of teaching substandard courses with unqualified teachers to a student body that matched neither academic records reported to regulators nor the university’s own financial data. (6)
Similar allegations had already led regulators in eight states and territories to shutter Olivet campuses or begin reviews of the college. These actions resulted in guilty pleas in a counterfeit goods case in North Carolina and a racketeering case in Texas. In North Carolina, authorities arrested a Chinese-American pastor who was an Olivet graduate in the largest bust of counterfeit goods in the state’s history.
The Department of Homeland Security has been conducting its own, unrelated, investigation into whether Olivet laundered money. In 2020, several people called 911 from Olivet University’s campus in Anza, claiming they were being held prisoner. That sparked a raid in 2021 by U.S. Government law enforcement authorities. In addition to the money-laundering charge, the agents were reportedly investigating charges of visa fraud and labor trafficking. (7)
Reportedly, one of the charges being investigated by Homeland Security is one of Olivet committing fraud by bringing students from China and South Korea to the U.S. under sponsored US visas to study at the church’s facility in Southern California.
What Homeland Security is investigating is whether these students have been working, rather than studying, and being paid substantively below minimum wage. As such, the Department of Labor is also reportedly involved, regarding allegations related to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In addition, Olivet remains under scrutiny in Washington, D.C., where the DC Higher Education Licensure Commission (HELC) has made the operations the subject of a special meeting. (8)
The U.S. Attorney’s investigation has prompted judges to pause two other cases connected to Olivet, the suit by California’s Attorney General seeking to shut down the university and a civil case by four former Olivet University students. The former students say they were trafficked by Jang and college president Matthias Gebhardt, as well as five others who were also affiliated with the college. (9)
U.S. Congressman Ken Calvert, a California Republican, has called for law enforcement to fully investigate the criminal allegations against Olivet University. Calvert is the first member of Congress to speak out about the controversy surrounding the organization. (10)
In May 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in California’s Central District, which is conducting the investigation, said any charges would need to be filed “soon” before the statute of limitations runs out. (11)
Footnotes:
- Newsweek, 4/16/23
- Newsweek, 3/28/23
- New York Post, 2/21/20
- The New York Times, 2/14/20
- Newsweek, 4/16/23
- Riverside Press-Enterprise, 4/17/24
- Newsweek, 4/16/23
- Newsweek, 4/18/23
- Riverside Press-Enterprise, 4/17/24
- Newsweek, 5/30/24
- Newsweek, 5/8/24