A New York man was arrested Sept. 26, after an indictment charging him with fraudulently using the H-1B visa program to reduce skilled labor costs. Two IT companies that he partly owns, and an employee, were also charged in New Jersey.
Sowrabh Sharma, 31, of New York, is charged – along with SCM Data Inc., a New Jersey corporation, MMC Systems Inc., a Virginia corporation, and Shikha Mohta, 33, of Jersey City, New Jersey, the head of finance for the companies – with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and to obstruct justice and one count of conspiracy to harbor aliens. Mohta was previously arrested in May 2015 on a criminal complaint and was released on a $100,000 bond. The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Paul Fishman, announced the charges.
If convicted, the visa fraud and obstruction of justice conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The alien harboring conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the indictment SCM Data and MMC Systems offered consultants to clients in need of IT support. Both companies recruited foreign nationals, often student visa holders or recent college graduates, and sponsored them for H-1B visas that allow businesses in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers with specialized or technical expertise in a particular field, such as accounting, engineering or computer science.
SCM Data, MMC Systems, Sharma, Mohta and others, recruited foreign workers with purported IT expertise who sought work in the United States. The conspirators then sponsored the foreign workers’ H-1B visas with the stated purpose of working for SCM Data and MMC Systems’ clients throughout the United States.
When submitting the visa paperwork to USCIS, those indicted, allegedly falsely represented that the foreign workers had full-time positions and were paid an annual salary, as required to secure the H-1B visas. However, the foreign workers were only paid when they were placed at a third-party client who entered into a contract with SCM Data or MMC Systems.
In some instances, the entities charged, allegedly generated false payroll records to create the appearance that the foreign workers were paid full-time wages. The foreign workers allegedly made to pay SCM Data or MMC Systems their gross wages in cash. In exchange, SCM Data or MMC Systems would issue payroll checks to the foreign workers in a smaller amount, the charges allege.
The conspirators then encouraged the foreign workers to submit the bogus payroll checks to USCIS as proof that the workers were engaged in full-time work despite the fact that they were not working for SCM Data and MMC Systems, investigators say in the indictment.
During the investigation into the IT companies, prosecutors allege the conspirators provided fabricated leave or vacation slips to U.S. Department of Labor for the time periods that the foreign workers were not working in a bid to conceal that they were not paid during those time periods.
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