Posted by: ehho2 November 19, 2018
Login in to Rate this Post:
0 
? 
?
RELEASE
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Couple Indicted for $20 Million Visa Fraud Involving Indian Workers
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Raju Kosuri, 44, and Smriti Jharia, 45, of Ashburn, as well as four co-conspirators, were indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and visa fraud, among other charges.
According to the indictment, Kosuri, his spouse Jharia, and their co-conspirators have fraudulently applied for more than 800 illegal immigration benefits under the H-1B visa program. Since 2008, and at much greater scale since 2011, Kosuri has built a staffing business that amounts to a visa-for-sale system, in violation of federal law.
The indictment alleges that Kosuri has set up a network of shell companies that he presents to immigration authorities as independent businesses in need of Indian workers, but which he in fact owns and controls. The indictment further alleges that Kosuri and his co-conspirators use these entities to file petitions for non-existent job vacancies at Kosuri’s data center in Danville. Kosuri is alleged to require workers to pay their own visa processing fees, in violation of H-1B program rules; and he is alleged to treat the beneficiaries as hourly contractors, again in violation of H-1B visa program rules. The visa fraud scheme involves the forgery of numerous individuals’ signatures on visa petitions and exhibits without their knowledge. The indictment alleges that Kosuri has generated gross proceeds of at least $20 million over the life of the scheme
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Couple Indicted for $20 Million Visa Fraud Involving Indian Workers
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Raju Kosuri, 44, and Smriti Jharia, 45, of Ashburn, as well as four co-conspirators, were indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and visa fraud, among other charges.
According to the indictment, Kosuri, his spouse Jharia, and their co-conspirators have fraudulently applied for more than 800 illegal immigration benefits under the H-1B visa program. Since 2008, and at much greater scale since 2011, Kosuri has built a staffing business that amounts to a visa-for-sale system, in violation of federal law.
The indictment alleges that Kosuri has set up a network of shell companies that he presents to immigration authorities as independent businesses in need of Indian workers, but which he in fact owns and controls. The indictment further alleges that Kosuri and his co-conspirators use these entities to file petitions for non-existent job vacancies at Kosuri’s data center in Danville. Kosuri is alleged to require workers to pay their own visa processing fees, in violation of H-1B program rules; and he is alleged to treat the beneficiaries as hourly contractors, again in violation of H-1B visa program rules. The visa fraud scheme involves the forgery of numerous individuals’ signatures on visa petitions and exhibits without their knowledge. The indictment alleges that Kosuri has generated gross proceeds of at least $20 million over the life of the scheme