Two Indian-origin men, currently living in Dublin, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit H-1B visa fraud earlier this week, the US Justice Department announced Friday (US time) in a news release.
The men involved have been identified as Sampath Rajidi and Sreedhar Mada. Both are 51-year-old residents of Dublin, East Bay, in the United States. US authorities detailed further that their scheme was orchestrated by filing visa petitions for non-existent roles at the University of California. After securing H-1B worker visa approvals, they would later place workers with private clients, according to US federal prosecutors.
Fake H-1B visa petitions filed using UC official’s name
According to court documents cited in the Justice Department’s news release, Rajidi operated two visa servicing companies: S-Team Software Inc and Uptrend Technologies LLC. Their business models were focused on obtaining foreign workers for temporary placement with various companies. The same would be achieved by petitioning for H-1B Specialty Occupation worker visas.
As part of their exploitative workings, Rajidi would petition for the worker visas, while Mada served as Chief Information Officer of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR). The latter helped them earn an inside edge, with Mada’s role as Chief Information Officer granting his supervisory authority, according to the DOJ release. Nonetheless, Sreedhar Mada couldn’t hire H-1B workers for his department without authorisation from the higher-ups.
How the Indian-origin H-1B scamsters gained advantage over others
Between June 2020 and January 2023, the South Asian-origin duo engaged in their conspiracy by submitting fraudulent H-1B visa petitions for numerous candidates. The defendants falsely represented that their clients would be employed at the University of California, while Mada leveraged his position as Chief Information Officer of UCANR to support the false claims.
But the truth was far from what they had shown on the aforementioned petitions, as the positions in question never existed in the first place. “The defendants instead undertook to market these beneficiaries to other clients, having already secured H1-B visas based on the false assertions,’ the DOJ release stated.
Despite prior knowledge that crucial information, which they falsely represented in the visa petitions, was central to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) decisions in visa approvals, the defendants ended up gaining an upper hand over other firms. In the high-stakes competition to secure the limited H-1B slots, the defendants’ conspiracy “depleted the pool” of work visas available to rival firms.
What will happen to the defendants in the H-1B visa fraud case?
Sampath Rajidi and Sreedhar Mada are scheduled to be sentenced by US District Judge Troy L Nunley on July 30, 2026. The US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the US Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate are leading the investigation efforts. Assistant US Attorney Douglas Harman is prosecuting the case.
Both defendants, who have now pleaded guilty to the conspiracy, face a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Donald Trump administration continues its attempts to overhaul the H-1B visa program, alleging that its rife with “fraud.” As part of its broader immigration crackdown, the MAGA leader’s government has repeatedly emphasised its stance against “visa fraud,” warning that those engaging in violations of US and immigration rules could face deportation from the country. In another case of fraudulent visa scheme involving people of South Asian descent in the US, ten Indian nationals were recently indicted for allegedly participating in staged armed robberies so that “victims” could apply for immigration benefits.