Two Bay Area tech executives are accused of filing false visa documents through a staffing agency in a scheme to illegally bring a pool of foreign tech workers into the United States.
An indictment from a federal grand jury unsealed on Friday accuses Jayavel Murugan, Dynasoft Synergy's chief executive officer, and a 40-year-old Santa Clara man, Syed Nawaz, of fraudulently submitting H-1B applications in an effort to illegally obtain visas, according to Brian Stretch, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.
The men are charged with 26 counts of visa fraud, conspiracy to commit visa fraud, use of false documents, mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to prosecutors. Each charge can carry penalties of between two and 20 years in prison.
Murugan, 46, is co-owner of Dynasoft, an employment firm based in Fremont with an office in India, according to the indictment. Nawaz is believed to have worked for several Bay Area tech companies, including Cisco, Brocade Communications and Equinix.
Prosecutors say the men used fraudulent documents to bring workers into the U.S. and create a pool of H-1B workers to hire out to tech companies. The indictment charges that from 2010 to 2016, Dynasoft petitioned to place workers at Stanford University, Cisco and Brocade, but the employers had no intention of receiving the foreign workers named on the applications.
Source: The Mercury News
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday April 02 2017, @12:46PM (8 children)
BBut... but... free trade... the invisible hands of the free market fairy, (no, silly, not Aphrodite of Milos)... globalization and raising people from poverty....
(shit... my profits!)
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday April 02 2017, @01:39PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 06 2017, @11:42AM
Because the capitalism in America is oh so pure and non-hypocritical. (see the two last - bracketed - lines?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Sunday April 02 2017, @01:48PM (5 children)
At first glance I was presuming this comment to be a stab at the "Enlightened" Tech Executive class including the likes of Zuckerburg, et al. who profess to love diversity and low-income, uncivilized (i.e. illiterate, unskilled - not "bad") people, yet would never think to live or work in a ghetto or other area where those types of people would inevitably accumulate.
But then I see the title, "Protectionism running amok" and I have to wonder. Is this not protectionism in action?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 02 2017, @02:09PM (3 children)
When a people are being exploited, and those people band together to "protect" themselves, that is indeed "protectionism".
In this case, the "executives" were exploiting the US citizens. Burn 'em at the stake.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 02 2017, @02:48PM (2 children)
Hang 'em on screen during Superbowl halftime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 02 2017, @03:05PM (1 child)
The divisions in the US are out of control. Please stop making death threats on here, we already have enough anger rolling around here without literal death threats. I'd be fine with some good jail time!
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday April 02 2017, @05:43PM
Haven't that been the order of the day in the USA since it's inception?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 02 2017, @05:48PM
It's easy to be "good" when someone else is force feed the bill and violence. It's not the first time top of the society screws everyone else.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Sunday April 02 2017, @01:10PM (5 children)
Could this be the first hint from the current administration that the H1-B fraud scheme is over and that anyone involved with it better divest from it speedily before they themselves come to the attention of the justice system?
Why hasn't these kind of prosecutions been more frequent previously? and why such a small target? there are way bigger ones..
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday April 02 2017, @01:59PM (2 children)
Could this be the first hint from the current administration that the H1-B fraud scheme is over and that anyone involved with it better divest from it speedily before they themselves come to the attention of the justice system?
This is a particularly egregious violation. And it's likely that the investigation was started under the Obama administration. We'll see if this is the start of something more, but my take is that Trump isn't going to act on H1-B right now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 02 2017, @05:25PM (1 child)
You going full enlibtenment now??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 02 2017, @06:06PM
Meh, tbh it does tend to give him credibility. What I can't stand are the posters here who obviously get their material from the Monday afternoon sermon of the Church of El Rushbo. (Or is it Father Hannity of the Breitbart Supplicants now?)
(Score: 1, Troll) by SanityCheck on Sunday April 02 2017, @02:40PM
My virtual vagina is wet at the prospect.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday April 03 2017, @03:10AM
Ummm no... sounds like they falsified the demand, so they are being indicted for that not exploiting the loophole like all the other MNCs or large corps where they participate in pretending there is actually a need and work with head hunters.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03 2017, @05:34AM
As an Indian, I completely welcome this event. These kind of companies don't just harm USA, they harm India also. Not only they create an artificial barrier for the actually talented people by converting a skill based market into a money based market where a rich asshole, who is non-chalant about participating in this crime, gives these companies some money and then lands in USA, earning more money and encouraging similar people back in India; they also end up giving wrong impression of the pool at offer via H1B. These companies are the reason why a lot of talentless Americans get the opportunity to pretend they are better than the average market. This might be a short term loss of us at India, but at least it creates a more equal field of competition.
There is no reason for this kind of fraud to go on for so long without approval from administration. I am 100% sure that Stanford University, Cisco, Brocade and Equinix are equally guilty here.