In 2019, an Indian management consulting firm based in Chicago paid a $2.5 million penalty as part of a global settlement for visa fraud and inducing aliens to enter and remain in the U.S. illegally. That case, which was headed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, included allegations that the company had instructed the workers how to avoid detection and paid them India-based wages, which were substantially lower than what they should have received.
Six years earlier, Infosys Limited, an Indian company involved in consulting, technology and outsourcing, agreed to a record $34 million civil settlement to resolve allegations of systemic visa fraud and abuse of immigration processes in a similar scheme investigated by federal authorities in Texas. The company had been accused of concealing that migrant visitors had obtained work visas under false pretenses and were performing jobs that were required to be performed by U.S. citizens or legitimate H-1B visa holders.
Four months ago, Lakshmikanth Sripuram was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Albany to a year of probation and fined $10,000 for his guilty plea to wire fraud conspiracy in connection with a years-long scheme involving the falsification of work histories of computer programmers who were hired for a special project with the state comptroller’s office. Late last month, the judge amended his sentence to include a requirement that he pay $350,000 in restitution.
Sripuram , a 37-year-old citizen of India, admitted to conspiring with a former employee of the comptroller’s office, Srinivas Kancha, who allegedly received kickbacks when he subsequently interviewed and hired the programmers, and also set their salaries. A federal criminal complaint alleges Kancha, a 56-year-old Selkirk resident, knew the computer programmers had falsified qualifications and that they had been provided the questions they would be asked by him in their job interviews.
Kancha was charged in January 2021 with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He has not been indicted and his case remains pending in U.S. District Court in Albany nearly four years later.
Sripuram’s foreign passport was subsequently turned over to U.S. immigration authorities. According to court filings, he is fighting to remain in the United States, and his attorney recently pleaded with immigration authorities to revive his green card application.
Sripuram’s company, PIntegra, was one of three firms that were under contract to provide computer programmers to state agencies. The state comptroller’s office hired 17 of the programmers for a massive project involving the state retirement system; they were paid hourly rates ranging from $80 to $120. PIntegra received about $870,000 from the state comptroller’s office under the contract, with Sripuram keeping a percentage of the programmers’ pay.