US visa fraud case: Hyderabad-based broker even changed firm name

Hyderabad: The recorded transcripts of conversations between the US Homeland Security Investigations agents and company owners, brokers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana origin, have revealed the extent of the visa fraud network.

Documents of the US District Court (New Jersey). to which DC has access, reveal that Kodali Tejesh, Nimmala Karthik, Dyvarashetty Govardhan and Avinash Shankar had enabled numerous job seekers from India, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, to obtain job authorisation fraudulently and had created fictitious documents. Tejesh, who did his BSc Commerce in Badruka Col-lege here, had set up several companies in the US. Of these, Promatrix has been named in the scam.

Court documents said Tejesh was chief executive officer and MD of Proma-trix Corporation, a purported IT consulting and outsourcing company in New Jersey.

Read: Four Telugus in United States charged with ‘H-1B visa fraud’

Another accused, Jyothi Patel, was business development manager of Promatrix, the papers said. During the course of conspiracy Tejesh changed his company’s name from Promatrix to Blue Cold Techs Corporation.

Tejesh’s firm had students as staff
Documents submitted at the  New Jersey District Court showed that day-to-day business operations, personnel and its location remained constant after the name change from Promatrix to Blue Cold Techs Corporation.

The transcripts revealed that Kodali Tejesh’s company had foreigners as employees with F-1 student visas. In the recorded conversation, Tejest told the undercover special agent that the “students” wouldn’t even come to the University and he would be making money on the placement of the student.

Read: 10 Indians arrested in US visa sting, hundreds of students face deportation

Another defendant, Govardhan G. Dyavarashetty, alias Vardhan Shetty, a resident of Avenel in New Jersey, was employed and associated with HCL Infoserv Inc / HBL Infoserv Inc, an IT staffing company.

He was an H-1B (foreign worker) non-immigrant. He had fraudulently obtained forms like I-20 and fake school acceptance letters. During the probe,

Dyavarashetty’s clients paid the university approximately $15,000 to get three I-20 forms and related fraudulent documents. In each case he falsely claimed that his clients would be attending classes.

Freelancer Nimmala Karthik, who has been charged on two counts, conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to harbour aliens for profit, had collected “tuition” payments for his recruits.

“Nimmala, Kodali, enabled numerous foreigners to fraudulently maintain non-immigrant status and obtained employment authorisation to remain in the US on the pretext that these aliens were studying at an academic institution.

Nimmala facilitated creation of false student records including transcripts from some of the foreign students for the purpose of deceiving immigration authorities,” alleged the US Homeland Security Investigation. The cases were booked based on the complaint lodged by US Department of Home Land Security special agent Mr David A. Ferrante.