Thread: FBI Raids Indian Pharmacuitical

FBI does not do surveys they do interview, interrogation and arrests.

Reckon they put eye of newt in a medicine?

Perhaps the raid is connected with this:

http://business.mainetoday.com/news/070 ... alapa.html

Man sent to prison in worker visa fraud

E-mail this page

Reader Comments (below)
By MATT WICKENHEISER, Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 23, 2007


FOREIGN LABOR
Read the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram's investigation of the foreign labor system. NEWARK, N.J. - An Indian national who processed hundreds of immigration applications through Maine and New Hampshire was sentenced Monday to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of filing a fraudulent immigration document.
Narendra V. Mandalapa was facing a sentence of up to 46 months, but U.S. District Court Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise said he reduced the time because Mandalapa has helped investigators identify other potential instances of immigration-related fraud.
Since his arrest in October 2005, Mandalapa has provided federal agencies with a list of "entities who are doing immigration fraud," as well as individuals doing the same, Debevoise said. Investigators have developed five promising investigations from the list, the judge said.
However, he described Mandalapa's activity as "a particularly egregious crime involving the exploitation of hundreds of aliens." The victims, he said, were "in vulnerable and exposed positions."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam S. Lurie noted that Mandalapa had forged immigration papers for more than 250 foreigners. "He caused all of those people to work and live illegally in the United States," Lurie said.
He declined to comment on the new investigations or to discuss whether they involved companies that had processed immigration applications through Maine.
The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram published an investigation last September that detailed the activities of Mandalapa's company, Cybersoftec, and many other firms trying to bring foreign workers into the United States.
The newspaper found that dozens of high-tech staffing companies leased small spaces in Maine and other rural states in 2004 and early 2005 and filed immigration papers for thousands of foreigners who were supposed to work in the states. In many cases, the companies' connection to Maine was tenuous, and in several instances, landlords had never heard of the companies that called their buildings home on federal applications.
Cybersoftec claimed offices in Maine -- at 480 Congress St., Portland -- and in New Hampshire. It obtained more than 150 certifications in the two states for H1B visas in 2004 and 2005 through the U.S. Department of Labor. Cybersoftec also filed about 50 labor-certification applications for green cards in Maine, according to Maine Department of Labor records.
An H1B visa lets a skilled foreigner work into the United States temporarily; a green card lets a foreigner live and work here indefinitely.
A federal grand jury indicted Mandalapa on May 5, 2006, on 29 counts of immigration fraud, money laundering and mail fraud related to his applications for green cards. He pleaded guilty to the one count as part of a plea bargain.
Mandalapa will be given credit for the 14 months he's spent in jail, according to his attorney, Bruno C. Bier, and so will spend about six months in prison. At that point, said Bier, he'll be sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for what are likely to be deportation proceedings.
However, Bier said, Mandalapa could be in custody for anywhere from 12 to 24 months because the Indian consulate doesn't process the necessary paperwork quickly, and the sentence he received Monday marks him as an aggravated felon.
Bier had argued for even greater leniency for his client, in the hopes that a lesser formal sentence would mean less time waiting. Most of Mandalapa's family is in India.
None of the indictments filed against Mandalapa were for his activities in Maine, though state labor officials had informed federal authorities that they were suspicious of Cybersoftec.
Lurie didn't comment on Debevoise's sentence. Bier called it fair.
"I think the tragedy is that (Mandalapa) had developed a very effective business plan and if he had gone through legal means, he would have made himself a lot of money and created a lot of jobs and not subjected himself to this incarceration," Bier said.
Cybersoftec did legitimately provide skilled information-technology workers to Fortune 500 companies, Bier said. But Mandalapa also broke the law, he said.
According to court records, the workers were willing to pay Mandalapa as much as $22,000 each for his efforts to help them get immigration paperwork.
Records show that agents seized $5.7 million in assets from Mandalapa's bank and brokerage accounts, and at least $2.1 million came from fees paid by foreigners seeking fraudulent paperwork through Cybersoftec.
Bier said Cybersoftec is no longer in business.
Staff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791-6316 or at:
mwickenheiser@pressherald.com

The news item posted refers to one person who seems to have run a fly by night operation. The company that was raided is a subsidiary of a major Indian Pharma company - it is a public company with S$1.34 Billion in revenue. It seems highly unlikely that such a company would participate in immigration fraud - they can get all the workers they need legally; they would be interested in selling visa documents no more than Pfizer would be in selling Cocaine.

Ranbaxy makes generic drugs, it is quite likely that they might be in the cross hairs of some US Pharmas - but any sort of patent litigation would be a civil matter. I am sure the reasons will be disclosed in due time.

Just because it is a foreign company, don;t assume they are guilty until proven innocent.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

There should be a good story or two comng out of this. H-1bs and L-1s are frequently fraudulent in one way or another. Thanks for the heads up!

What makes you say that? I am sure there is a certain amount of fraud in everything - credit card charges, driving licenses, whatever... That is why there is law enforcement and prosecution. It seems unfair to taint all H1bs as fraudulent in some way. It seems to me that the few fraud cases make headlines but there are no stories about vast majority of H1bs that are legal, and doing a good job, boosting the earnings of companies whose shares you won in your mutual funds and IRAs...

H1b's are boosting the earnings of American shareholders - "the widows and
orphans".

Originally Posted by AmrikiDesi

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

There should be a good story or two comng out of this. H-1bs and L-1s are frequently fraudulent in one way or another. Thanks for the heads up!

What makes you say that? I am sure there is a certain amount of fraud in everything - credit card charges, driving licenses, whatever... That is why there is law enforcement and prosecution. It seems unfair to taint all H1bs as fraudulent in some way. It seems to me that the few fraud cases make headlines but there are no stories about vast majority of H1bs that are legal, and doing a good job, boosting the earnings of companies whose shares you won in your mutual funds and IRAs...

H1b's are boosting the earnings of American shareholders - "the widows and
orphans".

Welcome to ALIPAC AmrikiDesi,

In case you missed the news, many American laws are not being adequately enforced at this time and fraud, identity theft, immigration violations, etc... are on a wild run right now as America's black markets expand rapidly with the flood of illegal aliens entering our once great nation.

The current situation in America involving immigration is not "a certain amount of fraud" as to be found in everything.

This is the mass sellout of America. Yes, you can raise corporate earnings for share holders by exploiting illegal labor, flooding the American labor market with H1b labor eager to work for lower wages (Yes, I know H1Bs are supposed to receive equal pay, but that is not being enforced either).

You can also make money for investors by lowering your product quality to unsafe levels for the public, dumping toxic waste in rivers, and treating your workers like slaves.

We have laws against that. Laws that are being ignored due to the influence of large corporations and it is lowering the quality of life in America rapidly.

W

AmrikiDesi

Welcome to Alipac! Glad you have joined us.

Dixie

Latest news I've heard is that the FDA and FBI wanted an in to examine the Indian company here and abroad. For what, it's still a mystery. The company employees are very nice and the management here has no idea what they could be looking for at this time.

The raids were probably to further an investigation. If I here anything, I will keep you posted.

Welcome to ALIPAC AmrikiDesi

Sorry folks, don't want to go too far off-topic, but this stuff is near and dear to yours truly...

Welcome AD.

It seems to me that the few fraud cases make headlines but there are no stories about vast majority of H1bs that are legal, and doing a good job,...

But the problem with the above is that while a few 'bad' examples make the news every so often the overall scale of abuse is still very large. It has been known to be used 'fast-and-loose' for corporations' to get what they want - regardless of the impact on US workers.

I included an example recently where the director/owner of a large Sacramento newspaper had filed H1B petitions for a 'news reporter'. In the application, that person listed the prevailing wage as 29K/yr. Now, people here will readily understand why this is likely to be an abuse in the least, and fraudulent at worst.


Supporting info:

Moreover... even the USCIS cannot or will not publicly disclose all persons in the country on H1B visas. In fact, many people have leveled the criticism that the USCIS doesn't even know who is here on an H1B or other visa or not. Also, even though the nominal cap on H1's is officially 65,000, it was recently disclosed that upward of 115,000 were actually granted per annum in recent years.

Further... roughly 40% of all persons illegally in the US entered under 'legal' pretenses -eg. tourist visa, student visit.... oh yes, even the H1B, etc. So, for people that supposedly are here only 'doing good' it seems a very sizable number have acted as their own immigration adjudication officers in determining they should have permission to stay - regardless of what US law requires. THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW! (overstays and absconders...) ...which, by the way, requires exiting the US (deportation?) and has the mandatory bar of, what, 10 years against that individual (IIRC).

Progressing... so, does all the above really matter? Does it affect Americans lives? Well, my answer to that is the following:
IF, and that's an unrealistic IF... if there were no Americans available to fill those same jobs being filled by H1Bs, well I could understand it. Of course, the reality is far different.
Question: How many unemployed American engineers are they at a given time in the US? A. About 800-900k - mind you, people (Citizens) that are already here, already pay-taxes, etc.
So, what a lot of the H1B folks probably aren't seeing or hearing, is that there ARE people that are already here that can and will do 'those jobs'.
(In fact, there was a famous case of an American software engineer from NJ that applied for a software job and followed up with the firm in a conference call in the US House of Representatives - there were loud gasps from the members of Congress when the applicant was told that the job was 'only open to H1B applicants' - which, under most circumstances, is illegal!)

I think it has much more to do with the public but unstated war waged against America's middle class in a sector that has been a very strong impetus for the improvement of many people's lives here. But, corporate greed (specifically, multinational corporate greed) being what it is, the argument does not evolve around skills, education, etc. ... but about unconstrained greed levied against one's citizen neighbor.

Originally Posted by AmrikiDesi

they would be interested in selling visa documents no more than Pfizer would be in selling Cocaine.

Pfizer could sell cocaine for medical uses. Perhaps this company's drugs are turning up in busts of street dealers?