Indian held for US computer techie immigration fraud

An Indian has been arrested by US immigration authorities and assets worth more than Rs 25 crore seized in one of the biggest immigration fr...

An Indian has been arrested by US immigration authorities and assets worth more than Rs 25 crore seized in one of the biggest immigration frauds to be uncovered. It involves around 1,000 computer professionals from India and Pakistan.

Narendra Mandalapa has been charged with fraud and misuse of visas and is currently in the custody of the United States Marshals Service. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement says investigations have revealed that Mandalapa had filed nearly 1,000 possibly fraudulent labour-based petitions. All of these were on behalf of skilled computer professionals from the Indian sub-continent seeking to enter or remain in the US.

Investigators estimate that professionals paid at least Rs 90 crore as application fees for these petitions. They are now trying to determine how many such people entered the US and received fraudulent labour benefits.

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Agents uncovered two shell companies owned by Mandalapa in New Jersey during the investigation that followed the detection of a small immigration fraud.

Mandalapa created these companies solely to file petitions for foreign workers. Computers and documents were seized from the corporate office of Cybersoftec . Four accounts in Edison, N.J. and two brokerage accounts in New York used have been seized. A Mercedes van and a Lexus sedan worth nearly Rs 45 lakh have been seized.