7 ms·

Couple Pleads Guilty to $20M Visa Fraud Involving Indian Workers

53 points by mavelikara 10y ago

mavelikara 10y ago
Although the court document lists his name as Raju Kosuri, the defendant seems to use the name Raj Kosuri in professional circles - see http://www.ecomnets.com/executive-team/ http://www.ecomnets.com/executive-team/.
DrScump 10y ago
He only had to forfeit the proceeds? Wow, that'll teach 'em! Note how he started and grew his business right in the depth of the recession, starting in 2008.
- mavelikara 10y ago
  I think he is facing jail term too.
mavelikara 10y ago
Indictment: http://www.slideshare.net/BigJoe5/usa-v-raju-kosuri-et-al-no-16cr00043lmb-ed-va-april-26-2016-indictment-h1b-visa-fraud-scheme http://www.slideshare.net/BigJoe5/usa-v-raju-kosuri-et-al-no... Plea: https://www.scribd.com/document/322254486/Kosuri-Plea https://www.scribd.com/document/322254486/Kosuri-Plea
achow 10y ago
A Romantic Start that Turned into a $20 Million H-1B Fraud Case. http://cis.org/north/20-million-h-1b-fraud-case http://cis.org/north/20-million-h-1b-fraud-case Excerpt: This was no one-off offense, like a solitary bank robbery. This was crime on a massive, industrial, assembly-line scale. There are, in this indictment: - Six defendants - Seven different federal crimes charged - 27 counts in the indictment, involving - 800 illegal migrants, resulting in - $20 million in ill-gotten gains to be forfeited. The scale is breathtaking, and the feds' ignorance of it for years is as if the Confederacy had not noticed Sherman's march to the sea. The list (of assets that were seized) includes a 2010 Mercedes 400S sedan, three pieces of real estate, and 29 bank accounts held by the defendants and companies that they control. The total value of all this swag is noted as $20.7 million, but there are no statements about the size of each individual asset. Mysteries Within the Indictment. This leads to one of the multitudinous mysteries within the indictment. If Kosuri and his wife were securing funding from 800 illegal aliens (posing as H-1B workers) and if they had secured over $20 million in loot, why would they bother defrauding SBA of such small sums? In one case they applied for an SBA benefit, were rejected, applied again, were rejected again, and then apparently got what they wanted on the third attempt (once again, the indictment does not say so, but that sequence is implied.) Similarly, they seemed to have only one, six-year-old vehicle worth seizing, the Mercedes, and Loudoun County (Va.) property appraisals show their home as being worth a bit over $800,000, fairly typical of the Ashburn area where they lived. Neither of these are signs of real affluence. These indicators suggest one of two things: 1) they were engaged in a manic effort to squeeze as much money as possible out of the system, without spending too much of it; or 2) they were not managing their illicit house of cards very competently. I suspect some of both, but the indictment sheds no light on either.
- mavelikara 10y ago
  > I suspect some of both, but the indictment sheds no light on either. This was written before the plea was made; the plea clarifies some of the details. In particular, it clarifies that JHARIA referred in the SBA fraud is Mrs. Smriti Jharia, and not her brother Mr. Vikrant Jharia. The plea makes very interesting reading.
- rjsw 10y ago
  Perhaps the $20 million is no longer in the US.
- lostboys67 10y ago
  Or they managed to launder cash to some other country
  - senthil_rajasek 10y ago
    "Kosuri agreed to forfeit proceeds of his fraud schemes in the amount of $20,900,000."
    - lostboys67 10y ago
      But is that only what the feds found they might have exfitrated more back to family back home
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
- onion2k 10y ago
  Neither of these are signs of real affluence. If you return what you've stolen the courts are often more lenient in sentencing. I imagine if you're committing a huge fraud then, if you're capable of thinking it through rationally, keeping the money until you're absolutely certain you've managed to get away with your crime is actually good idea.
0xmohit 10y ago
Good to see that there are countries where the law works. In India, it usually doesn't [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Mallya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Mallya
rdtsc 10y ago
> EcomNets, Inc., Data Systems, Inc., United Software Solutions, Inc., Unified Systems, Inc., United Technologies, Inc., Citrix Software, Inc., Agility Software, Inc., American Eagle Software, Inc., Climetrics, Inc., Immigration, LLC,and EcomNets Federal Solutions, LLC (also known as GovSecurity, LLC) Lovely. "I know, we'll name our company American Eagle, Inc. No government official will dare touch something as patriotic as that. They worship that bird here, we should be safe". But wonder if Citrix Systems' and American Eagle Outfitters clothing company laywers might want a word with them. At least in case of Citrix it is the same market, so there are probably trademark issues involved? Pretty sure it shouldn't be legal to call your company Google LLC or Facebook Software Inc.
biocomputation 10y ago
Strip them of their citizenship. Now.
- arachnids 10y ago
  Creating a second class citizenship that can be taken away undermines democracy. Either give someone citizenship or do not. If we do and they fuck up, they're our problem.
  - rdtsc 10y ago
    Not necessarily. People have been stripped of citizenship if it was determined they obtained it fraudulently, that is lying on the forms or during an interview with an immigration official. So, actually what gp is suggesting is not completely implausible.
    - mahmud 10y ago
      On the other hand, making citizenships "sticky" can dissuade people from some crimes BECAUSE they're citizens. In the war of terrorism, U.S-citizens caught fighting for Al-Qaeda/ISIS are tried for treason (potentially carrying a death penalty) while foreign fighters could be afforded the luxury of the Geneva Convention rights. And yes, I am a naturalized US citizen.
      - danieltillett 10y ago
        I think those in Guantanamo might care to disagree that they were afforded the luxury of the Geneva convention.
        hga 10y ago
        They're enjoying the luxury of our ridiculous ... softness? Good will isn't quite it, internecine political warfare for sure. The people imprisoned there were unlawful combatants, and to among other things strongly encourage lawful combat, they enjoy no protection, they can, for example, be immediately executed.
mohsinr 10y ago
Not sure but could it be that he also looted money from his victims he issued visa, those 800 workers, as in our country people pay a lot to agents to get visas... Not sure if those 800 workers have any recourse...
known 10y ago
http://www.petition2congress.com/20324/expel-indian-americans-from-usa/ http://www.petition2congress.com/20324/expel-indian-american...
coldcode 10y ago
Only the ones they caught, eventually. Like ripping off the DoD or Medicare much of it is never found, or is ignored.

53 points by mavelikara 10y ago

Although the court document lists his name as Raju Kosuri, the defendant seems to use the name Raj Kosuri in professional circles - see http://www.ecomnets.com/executive-team/ http://www.ecomnets.com/executive-team/.

DrScump 10y ago

He only had to forfeit the proceeds? Wow, that'll teach 'em! Note how he started and grew his business right in the depth of the recession, starting in 2008.

mavelikara 10y ago
I think he is facing jail term too.

mavelikara 10y ago

Indictment: http://www.slideshare.net/BigJoe5/usa-v-raju-kosuri-et-al-no-16cr00043lmb-ed-va-april-26-2016-indictment-h1b-visa-fraud-scheme http://www.slideshare.net/BigJoe5/usa-v-raju-kosuri-et-al-no... Plea: https://www.scribd.com/document/322254486/Kosuri-Plea https://www.scribd.com/document/322254486/Kosuri-Plea

achow 10y ago

A Romantic Start that Turned into a $20 Million H-1B Fraud Case. http://cis.org/north/20-million-h-1b-fraud-case http://cis.org/north/20-million-h-1b-fraud-case Excerpt: This was no one-off offense, like a solitary bank robbery. This was crime on a massive, industrial, assembly-line scale. There are, in this indictment: - Six defendants - Seven different federal crimes charged - 27 counts in the indictment, involving - 800 illegal migrants, resulting in - $20 million in ill-gotten gains to be forfeited. The scale is breathtaking, and the feds' ignorance of it for years is as if the Confederacy had not noticed Sherman's march to the sea. The list (of assets that were seized) includes a 2010 Mercedes 400S sedan, three pieces of real estate, and 29 bank accounts held by the defendants and companies that they control. The total value of all this swag is noted as $20.7 million, but there are no statements about the size of each individual asset. Mysteries Within the Indictment. This leads to one of the multitudinous mysteries within the indictment. If Kosuri and his wife were securing funding from 800 illegal aliens (posing as H-1B workers) and if they had secured over $20 million in loot, why would they bother defrauding SBA of such small sums? In one case they applied for an SBA benefit, were rejected, applied again, were rejected again, and then apparently got what they wanted on the third attempt (once again, the indictment does not say so, but that sequence is implied.) Similarly, they seemed to have only one, six-year-old vehicle worth seizing, the Mercedes, and Loudoun County (Va.) property appraisals show their home as being worth a bit over $800,000, fairly typical of the Ashburn area where they lived. Neither of these are signs of real affluence. These indicators suggest one of two things: 1) they were engaged in a manic effort to squeeze as much money as possible out of the system, without spending too much of it; or 2) they were not managing their illicit house of cards very competently. I suspect some of both, but the indictment sheds no light on either.

mavelikara 10y ago
> I suspect some of both, but the indictment sheds no light on either. This was written before the plea was made; the plea clarifies some of the details. In particular, it clarifies that JHARIA referred in the SBA fraud is Mrs. Smriti Jharia, and not her brother Mr. Vikrant Jharia. The plea makes very interesting reading.
rjsw 10y ago
Perhaps the $20 million is no longer in the US.
lostboys67 10y ago
Or they managed to launder cash to some other country
- senthil_rajasek 10y ago
  "Kosuri agreed to forfeit proceeds of his fraud schemes in the amount of $20,900,000."
  - lostboys67 10y ago
    But is that only what the feds found they might have exfitrated more back to family back home
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
onion2k 10y ago
Neither of these are signs of real affluence. If you return what you've stolen the courts are often more lenient in sentencing. I imagine if you're committing a huge fraud then, if you're capable of thinking it through rationally, keeping the money until you're absolutely certain you've managed to get away with your crime is actually good idea.

0xmohit 10y ago

Good to see that there are countries where the law works. In India, it usually doesn't [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Mallya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Mallya

rdtsc 10y ago

> EcomNets, Inc., Data Systems, Inc., United Software Solutions, Inc., Unified Systems, Inc., United Technologies, Inc., Citrix Software, Inc., Agility Software, Inc., American Eagle Software, Inc., Climetrics, Inc., Immigration, LLC,and EcomNets Federal Solutions, LLC (also known as GovSecurity, LLC) Lovely. "I know, we'll name our company American Eagle, Inc. No government official will dare touch something as patriotic as that. They worship that bird here, we should be safe". But wonder if Citrix Systems' and American Eagle Outfitters clothing company laywers might want a word with them. At least in case of Citrix it is the same market, so there are probably trademark issues involved? Pretty sure it shouldn't be legal to call your company Google LLC or Facebook Software Inc.

biocomputation 10y ago

Strip them of their citizenship. Now.

arachnids 10y ago
Creating a second class citizenship that can be taken away undermines democracy. Either give someone citizenship or do not. If we do and they fuck up, they're our problem.
- rdtsc 10y ago
  Not necessarily. People have been stripped of citizenship if it was determined they obtained it fraudulently, that is lying on the forms or during an interview with an immigration official. So, actually what gp is suggesting is not completely implausible.
  - mahmud 10y ago
    On the other hand, making citizenships "sticky" can dissuade people from some crimes BECAUSE they're citizens. In the war of terrorism, U.S-citizens caught fighting for Al-Qaeda/ISIS are tried for treason (potentially carrying a death penalty) while foreign fighters could be afforded the luxury of the Geneva Convention rights. And yes, I am a naturalized US citizen.
    - danieltillett 10y ago
      I think those in Guantanamo might care to disagree that they were afforded the luxury of the Geneva convention.
      - hga 10y ago
        They're enjoying the luxury of our ridiculous ... softness? Good will isn't quite it, internecine political warfare for sure. The people imprisoned there were unlawful combatants, and to among other things strongly encourage lawful combat, they enjoy no protection, they can, for example, be immediately executed.

mohsinr 10y ago

Not sure but could it be that he also looted money from his victims he issued visa, those 800 workers, as in our country people pay a lot to agents to get visas... Not sure if those 800 workers have any recourse...

known 10y ago

http://www.petition2congress.com/20324/expel-indian-americans-from-usa/ http://www.petition2congress.com/20324/expel-indian-american...

coldcode 10y ago

Only the ones they caught, eventually. Like ripping off the DoD or Medicare much of it is never found, or is ignored.