Darren Lian of IRS has made history as the first Chinese American Special Agent in Charge in San Francisco Bay Area

(SAN FRANCISCO) Darren Lian has made history to be the first Chinese American to head any federal criminal investigation agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Chinese community welcomes Lian as the Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the Oakland Field Office which covers the entire Northern California region.

Under the federal system, there are a number of the federal agencies that conduct criminal investigations nationwide with field offices all over the states, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and more.

The IRS' criminal investigation division was founded in 1919. For over the century, the IRS has investigated and prosecuted many tax fraud related cases. The IRS also expanded its investigation to overseas by establishing an office in China in 2008 and many countries decades ago.

The Oakland Field Office of IRS covers the investigation from Central California to Sacramento region, Central Valley and north to the California border.

"I am very excited to join the Oakland Field Office," Lian said in an interview with the Wind Newspaper at Oakland. He felt that the Oakland Field Office has maintained a very unique relationship with him since he joined the IRS Criminal Investigation as a Special Agent in 2010.

Lian was born in China and immigrated to the United States at the age of 13. He is the only child of his parents who decided to settle down at Monterey Park in Southern California. His father was a businessman and had once lost some money by fraud.

Lian's parents are no different from many Asian parents who hoped for their children to be future physicians and lawyers. "I have dreamed of a career in law enforcement when I was a little boy," said Lian.

But Lian also wanted to fulfill his parents' dreams for him. He majored in accounting in college and earned a master's degree in business taxation. He went to law school at a later time to earn a Juris Doctor degree.

At the beginning of his career, Lian joined the KPMG, LLP in Los Angeles as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He was promoted to higher management positions in the firm years to come. At that moment, Lian said he decided to pursue his own path by joining law enforcement as his second career.

"I like investigations and solving puzzles," said Lian. "This was what I like and want to do." After working in the tax related industry for years, Lian believed that he was able to utilize his investigation skill to serve the community.

Firstly, Lian just called the IRS's criminal investigation field office in Los Angeles for an inquiry on recruitment. He was told there were no openings. But a short time later, Lian received a phone call from the IRS' Oakland Field Office to provide him with more information about employment and welcomed him to join their team as a Special Agent.

Lian was so delighted to hear the good news from the Oakland Office. He passed all the tests and became an IRS Special Agent serving in the Los Angeles Field Office in 2010.

During the past 13 years, Lian was able to work briefly as an overseas representative of IRS in Beijing, China. He was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and Assistant Special Agent in Charge later on respectively. He was the Acting Special Agent in Charge of Los Angeles Field Office in 2021 to 2022. He was subsequently promoted to head the Oakland Field Office as the first Chinese American Special Agent in Charge in the Bay Area in January 2023.

IRS' Criminal Investigation Division is the only agency to investigate potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes.

"The Oakland Field Office is among the best in criminal investigations working sophisticated financial crimes with national and international impact," said Lian, who encouraged more Asian Americans to pursue their dreams in law enforcement to serve the country and the community.