Chinese student Li Biyuan, who has been accused of participating in a cheating scheme on U.S. university entrance exams, pleaded guilty on Wednesday. Li was sentenced to a five-year probation and immediate deportation from the U.S., as reported by local media the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Li is the first of all 15 students in the university cheating case to plead guilty.

Li Biyuan, a 25-year-old graduate from Northeastern University in Boston, admitted two weeks ago that he offered an imposter a counterfeited passport manufactured in China and a payment of $6,000. The imposter later posed as Li to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Li expressed his regret for cheating in front of Judge Joy Flowers Conti and said his decision disgraced his family and ruined his chance to study in America.

The judge then released him to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for immediate deportation.

The judge said Li's five-year probation would be immediately applied when he re-enters the U.S..

Previously, US federal authorities also wanted to pose tougher punishment on Li to set him as an example in cracking down on students who attempt to cheat their ways into universities.

The lead of the test cheating case, 24-year-old Chinese defendant Han Tong, also pleaded guilty in the court to both hiring imposters to take entrance tests and taking entrance tests for others.

Han has been a student at the University of Pittsburgh since 2011 after gaining admission through cheating on an English exam himself.

Han and his Chinese accomplice identified as "Ada" worked as impostors themselves to take tests for other Chinese students seeking admission from American schools with fake passports, said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Han hired five to seven associates to take 10 fraudulent tests, paying them $2000 for each test.

He also admitted to offering imposters fake passports manufactured in China, with the pictures of the imposters and the names and identification information of students supposed to be taking the test, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The U.S. federal authorities confiscated 7 fake passports from Han.

Han will remain free until he is set to be sentenced this November.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Han's lawyer, who refused to make comments, told the judge that his client had completed three years of studies at the University of Pittsburg and was hoping to get his degree in Ohio State University before returning to China.

So far, U.S. federal persecutors haven't commented on the case.