http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/s ... 453172.htm

Sat, Jan. 13, 2007

NORTHEAST TARRANT & REGION BRIEFS
Staff Reports



CUARTAS

Man gets prison for immigration scheme

An Irving man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he and two associates were accused of providing false documents to help illegal immigrants obtain work visas, court records show.

Sunny Khanna, 48, formerly of Colleyville, was arrested in Dallas in August by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. He was later released on a personal-recognizance bond after surrendering his passport, federal court documents show. Khanna pleaded guilty in September to charges of aiding and abetting , fraud and misuse of documents.

Officials say Khanna ran Reference Data Consulting and Recruiting in Bedford until the company forfeited its charter in 2001 for failing to pay taxes. Khanna and his associates Syed S. Shahabuddin and Shariq Ahmed Khan continued to illegally submit 95 H-1B petitions for work visas to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for people from Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and Yemen.

Khanna charged illegal immigrants about $5,000 to submit petitions for work visas to the INS, with $2,000 to $3,000 of that amount paid to the government for fees. The men also used Worldwide Education Service to get diplomas and then altered the documents with the immigrants' names, officials said.

In December 2002, the U.S. Consulate in Madras, India, returned one of the H1-B petitions submitted by Khanna when the beneficiary admitted that the documentation in support of the visa was counterfeit, officials said.

Shahabuddin and Khan are expected to be sentenced in February.

-- Melissa Vargas