An Indian-American immigration attorney for two IT companies admitted Oct. 17, before a New Jersey federal court judge, that she submitted phony documents and obstructed a federal investigation as part of a scheme to secure foreign worker visas fraudulently.
Sunila Dutt, 39, of Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court to an information charging her with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and obstruct justice.
Dutt faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2017.
According to the information submitted in court, SCM Data Inc. and MMC Systems Inc. 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. Dutt and other conspirators recruited foreign workers with purported IT expertise who sought work in the United States. They then sponsored the foreign workers’ H-1B visas purportedly for SCM Data and MMC Systems’ clients throughout the United States. They submitted false information to procure the visas, and broke H1-B regulations on payment to the foreign workers. In some cases, they even generated false payroll records giving the appearance that the foreign workers were paid full-time wages, when in fact, the workers had to give their gross wages in cash to the IT companies which in exchange paid them smaller amounts. The workers were then encouraged to submit false payroll records USCIS.
Dutt admitted that she submitted, or caused to be submitted, one or more filings to USCIS falsely representing that the companies would employ foreign workers for in-house positions when no such positions existed. She also admitted that she submitted a false I-129 petition to USCIS to extend an H1-B visa. She also admitted to other irregularities.
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