As of early October 2026, the passport-misuse case against Jin Fu Wei and Xiaodan Lei remains in the pretrial phase. Both defendants have been in federal custody since their arrest on Aug. 26, 2026. No new court filings, hearings, or investigative announcements have been reported since the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced the charges on Sept. 29, 2026.

According to the DOJ complaint, Wei and Lei arrived at John Wayne Airport (SNA) on a commercial flight from Los Cabos, Mexico, and each presented a U.S. passport belonging to a real U.S. citizen. Neither passenger's name appeared on the flight manifest, and CBP's biometric facial-recognition system returned a non-match for both. Officers detained and arrested them at the port of entry.

Wei, 44, is from Guangxi Province, China. Investigators allege he also carried a Chinese credit card and bank card in his own name alongside the passport holder's expired Texas driver license. Lei, 47, is from Henan Province, China.

Each defendant is charged with one count of misuse of a passport under 18 U.S.C. § 1544, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli described the case as both a criminal matter and a national-security concern. Both defendants are charged, not convicted.

The FBI is working with CBP to determine how the defendants obtained genuine U.S. passports belonging to other people. That inquiry remains open; no arrests related to the source of the documents have been publicly announced.

The case is pending in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Future milestones to monitor include arraignment, detention hearings, and any superseding indictment that might reflect additional charges or co-conspirators identified through the passport-origin investigation.