United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

BUSINESSMAN FOUND GUILTY OF MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD

United States Attorney Richard Roper announced that former Dallas area resident Suman K. Varanasi was found guilty on Monday, September 18, 2006, of mail fraud and wire fraud following a trial before the Honorable Jane J. Boyle, United States District Judge. Specifically, Varanasi was found guilty of six counts of mail fraud and six counts of wire fraud, and faces a maximum statutory sentence on each count of twenty years, a $250,000 fine, and restitution. Varanasi is in federal custody and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Boyle on December 14, 2006.

Varanasi, a citizen of India present in the United States on a non-immigrant H1-B employment-based visa, founded Zenstra Solutions, an placement service for IT professionals, in April 2003. Zenstra did business at 14001 Dallas Parkway, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas, through November 2004, when the business closed.

According to the evidence presented in court, from October 2003 through November 2004, Varanasi executed a scheme to defraud Indian IT professionals in the United States on H1-B employment-based visas by offering to hire them for a permanent position with the company and, in exchange for a fee, to file forms with the Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that would enable them to obtain lawful permanent residence. Specifically, Varanasi falsely advertised on websites popular with Indians living in this country that his company had an approved labor certification – authorization from the Department of Labor to hire an alien for a permanent position – and that if an applicant had the appropriate qualifications, the company would file the necessary forms with USCIS to support an application by the alien applicant for lawful permanent residence. Varanasi falsely represented to applicants responding to the ad that Zenstra had contracts with major IT companies and that, when hired, the applicants would work on projects with these companies. Varanasi charged each applicant approximately $2000-$3000, falsely representing that the funds would go to cover the attorneys fees and processing costs associated with filing the necessary forms with USCIS to obtain authorization to hire the applicant for a permanent position. Varanasi later misrepresented to the applicants that his company had filed the necessary forms with CIS.

The government alleges that Varanasi used this fraudulent scheme to obtain money from over 100 victims, resulting in a loss of approximately $400,000.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Dallas Field Office, the USCIS Fraud Detection Unit-Texas, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Paul Yanowitch and Christopher Stokes.

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