Steep Penalty for Alleged H-1B Scammer
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Bail of $800,000 was set for an Edison, N.J., zoning board member arrested June 10 and charged with conducting an immigration racket between January 2002 and June 2008 through his IT company Cygate Software and Consulting. Cygate owner Nilesh Dasondi is accused of charging expatriates tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for fraudulently sponsoring their H-1B work visas. Dasondi filed federal work visa and immigration documents for six people who did not work for his company. In a process known as "running the payroll," six Indian nationals paid Cygate more than $850,000, authorities said, which in turn created fake payroll stubs and fake insurance payments to the government to prove the six were employees. The rest of the money was returned to the individuals or pocketed by Dasondi. All six Indian nationals were also arrested. Meanwhile, the government appears to be increasingly cracking down on H-1B program abusers. Groups such as the Programmers' Guild, a nonprofit organization working to advance the issues of IT pros, which have long argued that the visa system is rife with abuse, however, say this is just the tip of the iceberg. "Here we have Cygate. Before that, Cybersoftec was doing the exact same thing," said Programmers Guild founder and software industry expert John Miano. "There was Deepsai, which I believe was in Atlanta. Earlier this year there was the case in El Paso where the subcontractor to the school system was taking money from Filipinos to get H-1B visas and was importing more teachers than the school system was hiring." "Right now in [New Jersey] the Wage and Hour Division is up to its eyeballs in H-1B abuse cases," Miano said. |
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Comments (4)
Regarding: Steep Penalty for H-1B Scammer
Something similar happened to me as well.
When hired by a company called "ProNET Strategic Partners" and in conjunction with "BirlaSoft" to work onsite the company MetLife in BridgeWater, NJ.
I was one of the first hired for a WebMethods position at the site. Eventually, The companies Birlasoft and ProNET were hiring IT Professionals for this project, but when it was time to get the project going, none of the people on the team had any idea what a keyboard was. Most of these individuals were on H1 visas on behalf of these companies.
I had to comment on this simply because it sounds to be much like the case being mention in this article.
In turn, this company, Birlasoft and ProNET, withheld my pay on several occassions and still owe me compensation for time worked at the MetLife site.
Just FYI.
Posted by Jeff C | June 18, 2008 3:45 PM
The irony is, when H-1b are used for immigration fraud like CyGate did, no qualified Americans are displaced.
So it's as if the federal goverment is enforcing that all H-1b visas SHALL be used to displace qualified Americans.
Posted by Joe S. | June 18, 2008 5:06 PM
Why DOL in NJ/NY is full of complains, why there is so much backload?
Why all bad practises are been taken place in NJ, NY area as compare to other states.
Why H1B Abuse scandal are found more in this area.
Why DOL taking more than 6months to 1year to answer for complain?
Why they don't take Hard Step to stop this consultancies who are breaking law?
IT gains like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and many small time consultancies are sending there consultant on Business Visas to USA, they work here for 3 months without paying Taxes and paying low salary to Indian worker. Why USCIS is not taking any action against this illegal activities? How can we complain about H1B Abuse program, and where can we get someone look into matter immediately to stop this H1B abuse activity?
Posted by Stop H1B Abuse in NJ/NY | August 25, 2008 10:54 PM
It is hightime, the Feds start cracking down on the frauds from India who have been abusing the H-1B system and have made it a total organised Racket. There is a group called Gooltis who are Specialists in H-1B fraud. Countless Indians have suffered at the hands of these Gooltis. It is time for payback. These Goolti frauds have to sent back packing to their beloved Andhra Pradesh, where fraud is a way of life! Shame on the fraudsters from India!
Posted by Goolti_Buster | August 26, 2008 5:41 AM