05-05-06 -- Mandalapa, Narendra -- Indictment -- News Release
Indian National Indicted on Immigration Fraud Charges; Government Seeks Forfeiture of $5.7 Million and Luxury Cars
NEWARK – A federal grand jury today indicted an Indian national on 29 counts of immigration fraud, mail fraud and money laundering and also seeks the forfeiture of more than $5.7 million and two late model luxury cars, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie announced.
The Indictment alleges that Narendra Mandalapa, a/k/a "Ramesh Dashrth," 35, the owner and president of Cybersoftec, Inc., a business consulting company that was based in Edison during 2004 and 2005, fraudulently assisted hundreds of immigrant aliens to live and work illegally in New Jersey and elsewhere in the United States. Mandalapa represented that the aliens were going to be employed by his company, according to the Indictment.
The Indictment charges Mandalapa with, among other things, attempting to fraudulently cause the Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) to approve at least 250 Immigrant Petitions for Alien Workers (Forms I-140) that he submitted to CIS. An I-140 is a petition for an alien worker to become a lawful resident in the United States.
The aliens paid Mandalapa as much as $22,000 in exchange for Mandalapa's promise to secure an I-140 on their behalf.
Mandalapa was arrested on Nov. 3 on a federal criminal complaint. He remains in federal custody without bail. The government has said in court that Mandalapa is in the country illegally under an assumed name, Ramesh Dashrth.
In submitting the fraudulent I-140s to CIS, Mandalapa provided CIS with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Labor Certifications that the DOL had never approved. A Labor Certification is a document in which DOL certifies to CIS that there are no qualified United States workers available and willing to accept the position sought in the Labor Certification.
“The Foreign Labor Certification process allows employers to hire foreign workers without adversely affecting the wages and working conditions of American workers," said Gordon S. Heddell, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor. "This Indictment demonstrates our resolve to stop those who, for personal gain, would falsify DOL documentation to illegally facilitate the entry of hundreds of aliens into the United States. My office will continue to work jointly with other law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Attorney's Office on these anti-fraud initiatives.”
With a large number of the fraudulent I-140s to CIS, Mandalapa also provided CIS with fraudulent Cybersoftec federal tax returns for 2002, 2003 or 2004. The tax returns were submitted to purportedly demonstrate that Cybersoftec, Inc. had the ability to pay the alien on whose behalf it filed the related I-140.
In particular, those federal tax returns falsely represented that Cybersoftec, Inc. had paid federal income taxes during 2002, 2003 or 2004 and falsely represented that those federal tax returns had been filed with the Internal Revenue Service. In fact, Cybersoftec, Inc. failed to pay any federal income taxes during 2002, 2003 or 2004 and failed to file federal tax returns during those years. As a result of his submission of the fraudulent I-140s, Mandalapa allegedly received more than $2.1 million from aliens for submitting such filings on their behalf. The Indictment further alleges that a total of $5,768,097 and a 2004 Lexus ES and the 2004 Mercedes ML5 were all acquired or used in connection with the immigration fraud and money laundering alleged in the Indictment.
The Indictment further charges Mandalapa, in eight counts of money laundering, with attempting to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, and the control of these proceeds by laundering them through various bank accounts, and by using these proceeds to purchase a 2004 Lexus ES and a 2004 Mercedes ML5.
The Indictment further alleges that Mandalapa submitted a fraudulent I-140 on his own behalf in the name of an individual named "Ramesh Dashrth." This I-140 falsely claimed that it was being submitted for the individual named "Ramesh Dashrth," and was submitted with the fraudulent tax returns from 2003 and 2004.
Mandalapa is charged 10 counts of mail, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000; eight counts of money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, and 11 counts of using fraudulent immigration documents, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 year in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Despite indictment, all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Christie credited Special Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Kyle Hutchins; Special Agents of the Office of Inspector General, United States Department of Labor, under the direction of Gordon S. Heddell. .
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam S. Lurie of the U.S. Attorney’s Public Protection Unit in Newark.
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Defense Counsel: Eric Breslin, Esq., Newark; and Bruno Bier, Esq., New York, New York.