The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California recently announced the indictment of two executives for their alleged participation in a scheme to abuse the H-1B visa program. The indictment alleges the two submitted approximately 85 fraudulent H-1B visa applications and laundered approximately $1 million proceeds.
According to the indictment, the defendants, who were high-level executives for a California-based tech company, perpetrated a scheme to abuse the H-1B visa program to generate illegal proceeds for personal gain.
Between 2011 and 2017, the defendants allegedly submitted, through their business, approximately 85 fraudulent H-1B visa applications for temporary nonimmigrant workers. After sponsoring the foreign workers for employment, the defendants would place them in employment positions with other businesses, thereby creating an unfair and illegal advantage over employment staffing firms. After doing so, the defendants collected fees from these employers to cover the cost of the wages and salaries for the foreign workers – profiting nearly $7 million. Of these proceeds, approximately $1 million was illegally laundered.
Each defendant was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, which carries a maximum five-year imprisonment. Additionally, they were charged with two counts of visa fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a), with a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment for each count....
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