Thread: 4 admit guilt in immigration scam run by Edison businessman

Four admit guilt in immigration scam run by Edison businessman

Thursday February 19, 2009, 6:34 PM
Four men from India pleaded guilty in federal court today to participating in an immigration scam that authorities say was run by an Edison businessman.

The defendants said they paid the man, Nilesh Dasondi, thousands of dollars in exchange for his help to illegally secure work visas and green cards. Dasondi, a former Edison zoning official, was charged in June with conspiracy and is free on bail.

Dasondi ran unsuccessfully for township council in 2007 and owns Cygate Software & Consulting, an information-technology firm, which authorities say he used to petitioned federal immigration officials on behalf of six men.

Dasondi applied for visas reserved for "specialty occupations" -- like information-technology jobs, authorities said. The visas, issued by the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are highly competitive and often the first step toward citizenship.

They require applicants to possess specialized skills and work for the company that petitions on their behalf -- in this case Cygate, authorities said.

But in U.S. District Court in Newark today, the men said they lacked the technical skills listed on their applications. They also said they were not employed by Cygate.

"Did you ever perform actual work for Cygate?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Moser asked.

"No," said one of the defendants, Kishor Parikh, 42, of Ronkonkoma, N.Y.

Instead, the men said they found under-the-table jobs. They said they gave Dasondi money and he, in exchange, gave them paychecks, which they used to comply with the terms of the visa. Five of the men who were charged did not even live in New Jersey.

The four who pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States are Parikh; Ajit Vyas, 40, of Hoffman Estates, Ill.; Vimal Patel, 36, of Maricopa, Ariz.; and Chetan Trivedi, 40, of Ronkonkoma.

The two others, Hetal Shah, 38, of Ringwood and Devang Patel, 31, of Ronkonkoma, pleaded guilty to the same charge Wednesday.

They all face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when they are sentenced in May.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/0 ... ratio.html

Five more foreign criminals in our nation...four of them illegally. Just dandy...

Will they be deported upon serving their sentences?