United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

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

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

TWO LOCAL MEN SENTENCED FOR ROLE IN
CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE UNITED STATES TO OBTAIN
DOCUMENTS FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS

Shariq Ahmed Khan, 44, was sentenced today to 33 months in prison by U.S. District Judge John McBryde, following his conviction in October by a federal jury on various charges related to his participation in a conspiracy to obtain documents for illegal aliens by fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Co-defendant Syed S. Shahabuddin, 40, pled guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to transport and harbor aliens and was sentenced today to five years probation and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. Their co-defendant, Sunny Khanna, who pled guilty in September to aiding and abetting fraud and misuse of documents, was sentenced last month to 18 months imprisonment and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Khanna’s sentence was a downward departure from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines in recognition of his assistance in the prosecution of his co-defendants. Sunny Khanna, 48, is a former resident of Colleyville, Texas, but now resides in Irving, Texas. Shariq Ahmed Khan is a resident of Colleyville, Texas and Syed S. Shahabuddin is a resident of Naperville, Illinois.

According to documents filed in court, beginning sometime prior to March 2001, Sunny Khanna and his co-defendants were part of a conspiracy to provide false paperwork to aliens illegally in the United States to allow them to get work permits. Khanna, along with his co-defendant Sharique Ahmed Khan, operated a business in Bedford, Texas, to aid aliens who wished to enter and work in the United States to obtain visas and work permits. Sunny Khanna was the registered agent and Vice President for Reference Data Consulting and Recruiting Inc. (RDCR). RDCR forfeited its charter on March 23, 2001, for failing to pay its franchise tax. However, RDCR continued to file H-1B petitions with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), many of which were in fact approved. Sunny Khanna appears as the signing official for all of the H-1B petitions (Form I-129).

The beneficiaries of the petitions filed by Sunny Khanna were mainly from Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and Yemen. RDCR submitted approximately 95 petitions with the INS for H-1B visas. On December 18, 2002, the American Consulate in Chennai, India returned one of the H1-B petitions submitted by the defendant, Sunny Khanna, after it was determined during an interview that the beneficiary admitted that the documentation in support of the visa was counterfeit.

Co-defendant Syed S. Shahabuddin admitted that he knew certain persons in the Chicago, Illinois, area who were in the country illegally, as they had either come to the United States as visitors or students who overstayed their visas. Shahabuddin learned that these people would be able to get work authorizations through Sunny Khanna and Sharik Ahmed Khan, so he agreed with Khan that he would transport them safely to Dallas to obtain the paperwork.

RDCR charged aliens approximately $5000 to submit petitions for work visas to the INS, with $2000-$3000 of that amount paid to the government for fees. RDCR would use Worldwide Education Service to get diplomas and then “white-out” the name and alter the document to change the name to the name that appeared on the H-1B petition.

In one such instance, on February 15, 2002, Sunny Khanna and Shariq Ahmed Khan presented a forged and altered university diploma to the INS in Dallas, Texas, in connection with a Petition for Non-Immigrant Worker, for Manzoor Buchh. The document was required by the immigration laws and regulations to be filed in support of the petition. Although it was made under penalty of perjury, it contained a false statement, that is, that the alien had been admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. Khanna knew that statement was false, in that he and Shariq Khan had manufactured the counterfeit diploma in Bedford, Texas. In support of the false statement, Khanna and Khan filed the counterfeit university diploma, which falsely purported to be a Degree of Bachelor of Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Worley.

###