Edison Man Charged In Visa Fraud Scheme: Feds

EDISON, NJ — An Edison man is one of four charged in a visa fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Vijay Mane, 39, of Princeton, New Jersey; Venkataramana Mannam, 47, of Edison, New Jersey; Fernando Silva, 53, of Princeton; and Sateesh Vemuri, 52, of San Jose, California, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, Carpenito said.

Mane, Mannam, and Vemuri led to IT staffing companies in Middlesex County; Silva and Mannam also ran another company, called "Client A" in court documents. They would use the two companies to sponsor foreign nationals for H-1B visas at Client A, claiming the immigrants had secured jobs that did not exist.

The accused would use those falsely admitted immigrants as a "bench" of employees to be pulled from and hired out immediately, without having to go through the visa application process in real-time.

If convicted, each face up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.