H-1B Borker found guilty of scamming other H-1Bs
H-1B Borker found guilty of scamming other H-1Bs
Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 2:22 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1560 -- 09/26/2006 >>>>>
Suman K. Varanasi came to the U.S. on an H-1B visa -- and then set up his
own bodyshop called Zenstra Solutions. His company was used to scam H-1Bs
by promising them a Green Card for a couple thousand dollars.
Nothing has been said about how Varanasi was able to use an H-1B to become
the CEO of a bodyshop. Is there anyone on this mailing list that thinks
there is a shortage of bodyshops and borkers?
Varanasi was found guilty of mail fraud but it doesn't appear that the DOJ
had a problem with the fact that Varanasi was violating H-1B regulations
that prohibit H-1Bs from ownership of a company if it is used to actively
earn income, or if the H-1B participates in the day-to-day operations of
the company. I know that CEOs spend most of their time on the golf course,
or sunning on a Caribbean beach, but they always advertise themselves as
being the point-man for their company.
I couldn't determine if Varanasi sponsored himself for his own H-1B visa
which is usually, but not always, against the law. Numerous loopholes makes
violating this one subject to interpretation.
Many of you haven't done contract work, so you may not be familiar with the
term "borker". This is one of the most polite descriptions you are likely
to read.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=borker
From the realrates consultant website. Originally a typo for
"broker".
It describes a less than ethical technical recruiter. There are
variations like borkette (female) and borkery (place of business).
The verb 'borked' can mean "cheated by a borker".
The only jobs that I could find were sponsored by borkers that
were paying far below market rates.
The bork insisted that I come to the office to fill out 20
pages of useless paperwork.
As soon as I mentioned to the borkette that I wanted a full
disclosure clause in the contract agreement she stopped
calling me.
The website doesn't have a definition of "bodyshop". Perhaps one of you
could help them out.
Two articles about this H-1B scam artist are included. One is from 2005. If
you do a google search on Varanasi you will have no problem finding
testimonials from H-1Bs who were scammed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_36975.shtml
Businessman found guilty of mail and wire fraud
By U.S. Attorney media release
Sep 23, 2006
United States Attorney Richard Roper announced that former Dallas area
resident Suman K. Varanasi was found guilty on Monday, September 18, 2006,
of mail fraud and wire fraud following a trial before the Honorable Jane J.
Boyle, United States District Judge. Specifically, Varanasi was found
guilty of six counts of mail fraud and six counts of wire fraud, and faces
a maximum statutory sentence on each count of twenty years, a $250,000
fine, and restitution. Varanasi is in federal custody and is scheduled to
be sentenced by Judge Boyle on December 14, 2006.
Varanasi, a citizen of India present in the United States on a
non-immigrant H1-B employment-based visa, founded Zenstra Solutions, an
placement service for IT professionals, in April 2003. Zenstra did
business at 14001 Dallas Parkway, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas, through
November 2004, when the business closed.
According to the evidence presented in court, from October 2003 through
November 2004, Varanasi executed a scheme to defraud Indian IT
professionals in the United States on H1-B employment-based visas by
offering to hire them for a permanent position with the company and, in
exchange for a fee, to file forms with the Department of Homeland Security
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that would enable
them to obtain lawful permanent residence. Specifically, Varanasi falsely
advertised on websites popular with Indians living in this country that his
company had an approved labor certification -- authorization from the
Department of Labor to hire an alien for a permanent position -- and that
if an applicant had the appropriate qualifications, the company would file
the necessary forms with USCIS to support an application by the alien
applicant for lawful permanent residence. Varanasi falsely represented to
applicants responding to the ad that Zenstra had contracts with major IT
companies and that, when hired, the applicants would work on projects with
these companies. Varanasi charged each applicant approximately
$2000-$3000, falsely representing that the funds would go to cover the
attorneys fees and processing costs associated with filing the necessary
forms with USCIS to obtain authorization to hire the applicant for a
permanent position. Varanasi later misrepresented to the applicants that
his company had filed the necessary forms with CIS.
The government alleges that Varanasi used this fraudulent scheme to obtain
money from over 100 victims, resulting in a loss of approximately $400,000.
U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) Dallas Field Office, the USCIS Fraud Detection
Unit-Texas, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Inspector
General.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Paul Yanowitch
and Christopher Stokes.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2005-10-20/news/news_full.html
Visa Charges
Indian IT workers scammed on the promise of U.S. entry
By Rick Kennedy
Zenstra Solutions CEO Suman Varanasi listed this $278,000 house in Allen as
his home address. He told associates he shared the home with his sister.
Who / What:
Visa scam
Ashok Padmanabahn is nobody's fool. He's a computer engineer, working on
the next generation of display technology at the large Texas Instruments
campus off of Forest Lane. He owned his own technology company in India
before he signed a two-year contract to come to the United States in 2004,
and since he's been here he has crisscrossed the country for business and
pleasure. "I don't consider myself a naove person," he says with a thin
smile and only the ghost of an Indian accent.
In short, Padmanabahn doesn't seem like the kind of guy to get taken for a
sucker, but that's exactly what happened. Padmanabahn and dozens of fellow
Indians handed thousands of dollars last year to Suman Varanasi, CEO of
Zenstra Solutions Inc., a seemingly prosperous Dallas-based IT contracting
company. Varanasi promised work visas and, in many cases, jobs to skilled
Indian software designers eager to hook up with American companies. But the
jobs and visas never materialized, despite Varanasi's constant pleas for
patience. Then, about the time the promised refund checks started bouncing
early this year, Varanasi disappeared.
Padmanabahn's story is fairly representative. Because he was already in the
United States and had a local bank account, he agreed to handle the
logistics for a female friend in India who had landed a staff position at
Zenstra Solutions itself, according to a letter sent in August 2004. As a
Dallas resident, Padmanabahn had the advantage of being able to confirm the
offer in person. He set up an appointment to visit Zenstra's office in a
gleaming high-rise on Dallas Parkway just north of LBJ Freeway. "It was,
you know, an office," Padmanabahn says. "There was a secretary, people were
walking around, phones were ringing. I asked to see Suman Varanasi, and
after I waited for a few minutes, he came out to meet me."
Varanasi was young, 35 or so, but in the IT industry a 35-year-old CEO is
hardly a rarity. He was pleasant, with a soft, high-pitched voice, a firm
handshake and a quick wit. Others describe him as mild-mannered, a man who
dressed modestly and drove a nondescript 5-year-old mid-range car. Nothing
about Varanasi would set off any alarm bells.
But before he wrote a check, Padmanabahn went further. He began to see what
he could find on Zenstra Solutions on the Internet, and there was plenty.
The Dallas Morning News mentions multiple executive hires at Zenstra dating
back to 2003. There was the April 8, 2004, press release trumpeting the
company's new office in Austin. There was a June 2004 editorial by Varanasi
in the Dallas Business Journal discussing the future of outsourcing and
another in the IndUS Business Journal cogently tackling the implications of
the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Most impressive of all was a glowing May 2004 article that appeared in the
Plano Star-Courier. Under the headline "Company demonstrates positive side
of outsourcing," staff writer A. Lee Graham quotes Varanasi extensively as
an outsourcing expert. In the world according to Google, Zenstra was on the
rise. "I wasn't stupid," Padmanabahn says. "I searched for the company and
found the letters he had written. I even found that they had an
internship." Sure enough, Zenstra is listed as an employer on a 2003 list
of the University of Texas at Dallas' internships.
But most of all, there was the company's slick, sprawling Web site. The
site vanished this year along with Varanasi, but while it was up it offered
a convincing, if vague, portrait of a successful enterprise. Each page was
decorated with reassuring clip art--smiling, suit-clad businessmen, a pair
of designer glasses resting on the financial section of a newspaper. There
was also plenty of dense business jargon. One typical sentence: "Our
exceptional service delivery is a result of operational excellence achieved
through the use of high-quality disciplined processes, appropriate
methodologies, and the application of process and project management
expertise by well-trained, highly-qualified and accountable personnel with
well-defined roles."
Yet despite all of Padmanabahn's research, over the following months he
realized he'd been duped. At first Varanasi stalled, then in January issued
a refund check that promptly bounced. What Padmanabahn had thought was
Zenstra's bustling headquarters turned out to be a branch of Premier Office
Centers, a company offering short-term workspace to all comers, complete
with secretary. The branch office in Austin proved to be fictitious. The
Web site also listed a seventh-floor address in India, in a building that
has only five floors. Finally in March, communication with Varanasi ceased
altogether. "The last e-mail he sent me was a one-liner," Padmanabahn says.
"It said something like, 'The company is bankrupt, and I think you know
this.'"
That came as news not only to the countless aspiring engineers who had
given money to Varanasi but also to the government. On March 18 the state
of Texas revoked Zenstra Solutions Inc.'s charter for nonpayment of
franchise taxes. By that point numerous complaints had already prompted
state investigators and FBI agents to begin questioning former Zenstra
employees, who say they had no idea that their company was even in the visa
business.
"Apparently there were some dealings with some foreign nationals that
weren't what they should have been," says Richard Peritore, former senior
vice president of sales at Zenstra Solutions. He says his grandiose title
described a simple sales position he held, as did six others. He worked at
Zenstra for four months in 2004 and got paid for two of them. Up until
November of last year, Peritore dutifully called IT firms trying to
interest them in the services Varanasi said he could provide, but reputable
companies had never heard of Zenstra. "We didn't close a single account
while I was there," Peritore says.
Unbeknownst to Peritore, Varanasi's illicit sideline was booming. Want ads
placed on India-oriented and tech Web sites attracted plenty of interest
and seemed completely plausible, given U.S. companies' insatiable demand
for computer experts. "Suman Varanasi, in 2004...offered me a job as a
software consultant and enticed me into giving him $3,150," writes one
victim from Herndon, Virginia. "Suman Varanasi had promised me to get a
green card in July 2004, for which I paid him USD $3,000," says another
from Toronto, Canada. Victims began to connect with each other in Internet
tech chat rooms and consumer Web sites such as www.ripoffreport.com. At
least 50 victims would eventually emerge. It is likely that many others are
too embarrassed to come forward.
Peritore began getting angry phone calls from people looking for Varanasi.
"You know things are going wrong when the boss starts getting hard to
find," he says. "Unfortunately, I didn't have access to the information
they were looking for." Tonya Kelley, a receptionist at Premier Office
Centers, was also deluged with calls, and still is. "People are calling
left and right," she says. She has developed a rapid-fire spiel to cut off
the complainants. "Everybody's after them: the state, the IRS, the feds,"
she tells them. "They're totally out of here, they're gone, they're out of
business--most likely they're in India."
At least one person caught in Varanasi's scam did manage to get his money
back. Subramaniam Shanmugham is an engineer in Aledo, a town west of Fort
Worth. In the fall of 2003 he got what he thought was good news: His
fiancie back in India had landed a job in Dallas with Zenstra Solutions.
Only the $1,800 that Varanasi requested for a visa stood between the happy
couple. On December 5, 2003, Shanmugham drove to the Zenstra office and
handed over a check, and thus began a year of frustration.
Finally, in November 2004, Varanasi agreed to provide a refund. The check
bounced, and then a second followed suit. Only after Shanmugham threatened
a lawsuit in January did Varanasi pay up, even covering $160 in bank fees.
Shanmugham insisted on cash. Meanwhile, his fiancie had missed out on a
job opportunity in Italy and their relationship was strained nearly to the
breaking point. "It was very embarrassing," Shanmugham says. "$1,960 does
not make up for two years of spouses being apart."
Most others wound up with nothing at all. Gagandeep Bhatia is still hoping
to get his $3,150 back. His contract in the United States was ending, and
Varanasi promised him a job and a visa renewal. "After receiving the check,
he started making wild excuses about causing delays in filing applications,
and even refused to take my calls on his cell," Bhatia writes in an e-mail
to the Dallas Observer. Eventually his visa expired. "I had to return back
to my country duped by this thief."
"What we do is very straightforward," reads one Zenstra Web page. "It is
the way we do it that sets us apart." It's a statement that in retrospect
is both true and rich with irony. Peritore has given up hope iof recovering
his lost wages and has left the IT industry. "This is a situation where
you're blindsided," he says. "It kind of redirected my path." The FBI and
the Texas attorney general follow a policy of never commenting on
investigations. Attorney general spokesman Tom Kelley did offer some
advice: "We certainly encourage anyone who has bad experiences with any
company to file a complaint with us if they believe they've been defrauded
or misled in any way." Ashok Padmanabahn doubts that Varanasi will ever see
an American courtroom, but he hasn't given up on justice. "I trust in God,"
he says. "I believe that one day he will pay the price."
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