Date: 08-09-2017

Case Style:

Case Number: 1:16-cr-00134-LM

Judge: McCafferty

Court: United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire (Merrimack County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Mark S. Zuckerman

Defendant's Attorney: Mike Connolly, ADi Goldstein, Jeff Levin

Description: Concord, NH - Manchester Man Fined $40,000 for Filing False VISA Applications

Rohit Saksena, 42, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was sentenced on August 9, 2017 to serve three years of probation and pay a $40,000 fine for filing false visa applications.

According to court documents, Saksena is the president and chief executive officer of Saks IT Group LLC, a company based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Saks IT Group contracts with other companies to provide information technology consulting services and places its employees with other companies to provide professional technology services. From approximately March 2014 through approximately December 2015, Saksena filed 45 fraudulent visa applications with United State Citizenship and Immigration Services falsely claiming that Saks IT Group was hiring foreign workers to provide professional services to a company in Cupertino, California. The California company had not entered into a contract with Saks IT Group and had no jobs available for the foreign workers. Saksena knew that the foreign workers would not be employed at the California company.

Saksena filed the false visa applications under the H-1B visa program. That program allows American businesses to temporarily employ foreign workers with specialized or technical expertise in a particular field like accounting, engineering, or computer science when qualified U.S. workers cannot be found to fill those positions. Under the H-1B visa program, a U.S. employer may employ a highly educated foreign worker subject to strict conditions, which include a demonstrated need for the foreign worker to fill a vacant position and assurance that the U.S. company will employ the foreign worker. Saksena filed visa applications that falsely claimed jobs awaited the foreign workers at the California company. He supported those applications with bogus Independent Contractor Agreements between the California company and Saks IT Group and with sham Work Orders that purported to show that the foreign worker would provide professional services for the California company. Some of the false visa applications resulted in foreign workers receiving H-1B visas. Many of the fraudulent applications were denied once Saksena’s deception came to light.

Saksena previously pleaded guilty on May 1, 2017, to making false statements to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

This case was investigated by the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. State Department; the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General, Division of Labor Racketeering; and Homeland Security Investigations.

Outcome: Defendant sentenced to serve three years of probation and pay a $40,000 fine.

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Defendant's Experts:

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