Tech firm president charged with visa fraud

[OhioChick]

04/26/09 4:57 PM

The president of a Maryland technology firm has been charged with filing false visa applications that allowed at least two dozen immigrants to work in the United States, court documents said.

Ahfaz Ahmed, who started Super Technologies Corp. in Jamaica, N.Y., in 1992 and later moved it to Catonsville, earned more than $125,000 from immigrants seeking visas to work legally in the United States, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in Maryland’s federal court.

Ahmed and his colleague Aamir Saeed Khan, who was also charged, filed paperwork claiming the immigrants would work for their company, even though they knew they would not, court documents said.

The false claims allowed at least 24 immigrants to obtain H-1B visas, the indictment said.

The visas allow immigrants to work in the U.S. for three years in a specialty occupation. Employers must sponsor the visas and provide to U.S. authorities information showing that the position cannot be filled by a U.S. worker. The employer is also required to pay the prevailing wage for the position the immigrant will fill.

Calls to Ahmed were not immediately returned, and no lawyer was listed in court records. The company’s Web site says it helps its clients streamline internal technology systems.

But according to court documents, the immigrant workers Ahmed and Khan sponsored through Super Technologies didn’t actually work for the company. Instead, Ahmed would arrange for the actual employer to place the visa holder’s wages in a Super Technologies bank account. Ahmed would then pay the worker from the account minus the fees he charged for obtaining the H-1B visa, according to court documents.

The positions immigrants were supposed to fill at Super Technologies ranged from software engineering jobs paying $40,000 to computer programming roles earning $56,000, the indictment said. The jobs were based in Super Technologies’ offices in Catonsville, Jamaica, N.Y., and Pittsfield, Mass. The first false application was submitted in May 2002, the last August 2008, court documents said.

The indictment requires that Ahmed forfeit $125,000 and any other property linked to profits from the scheme if he’s found guilty.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/crime/Tech-firm-president-charged-with-visa-fraud-43744687.html

[ihavenobias]

1. K & R n/t

[sledgehammer]

2. Good stuff, but...

"The indictment requires that Ahmed forfeit $125,000 and any other property linked to profits from the scheme if he’s found guilty."

That's it??? Hopefully that's just the minimum, and that the actual punishment can be worse (including jail time).

It's immigration fraud. This is unacceptable.

[kooljerk666]

3. These guys need hammered!!

I was an MCSE/Net ware engineer & after spending 10,000 dollars to get trained all this crap began.

He should be fined the lost wages that americans would have earned, jailed & then deported.

I hate H1b crap more than I can safely & sanely say here.

SCREW THEM!!

[ChromeFoundry]

4. Slap on the wrist...

So, is the punishment for robbing a bank now, give back what you have stole?

I guess it really is worth it to make an attempt at skirting the H1B system. The punishment for getting caught is the same as being honest.

[Azlady]

5. Jail time! What about jail time! N/T

[babylonsister]

6. What, no jail? This is the kind of clown who belongs there. Seems he

needs to be taught a serious lesson.