03 May 2016
Couple Indicted for $20M H-1B Visa Fraud Scheme
Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld, May 2, 2016 - "The U.S. government has indicted a Virginia couple for running an H-1B visa-for-sale scheme the government said generated about $20 million. Raju Kosuri and Smriti Jharia of Ashburn, Va., along with four co-conspirators, were indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The scheme involved, in part, setting up a network of shell companies and the filing of H-1B visas applications for non-existent job vacancies. Workers were required to pay their own visa processing fees and were treated as hourly contractors, the DOJ alleged. Treating H-1B workers as hourly contractors is in violation of the program rules, the government said. More than 800 H-1B visa petitions were submitted over a period of nearly 15 years, according to court documents."