Clinton Men Sentenced to Prison for Visa Fraud, Forfeit Illicit Proceeds

DAVENPORT, IA—On April 20, 2011, Fazal Mehmood, also known as Fazal Mehmood Awan, 51, and Vineet Maheshwari, 37, were sentenced today in federal court in Davenport for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and making false statements to the United States and for engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. The sentencing hearing was held before the Honorable John A. Jarvey, Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Judge Jarvey imposed a sentence of 40 months in federal prison on each count as to both defendants to run concurrently to be followed by three years of supervised release should the defendant be allowed to remain in the United States. During the sentencing hearing, Defendant Fazal Mehmood agreed to be deported to Pakistan.

The defendants, originally from Pakistan and India, respectively, pled guilty in April of 2010 to charges that they conspired, through Worldwide Software Services, Inc., headquartered in Clinton, to provide numerous false documents to the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security, sponsoring foreign workers under the H-1B visa program. They also plead guilty to engaging in a monetary transaction of more than $10,000 and which money was criminally derived from the fraud. In a separate agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office, the defendants conceded the conspiracy involved more than 100 false documents and that each had an aggravated role in the offenses.

In addition to the prison sentences the judge ordered the defendants to forfeit more than $1 million in proceeds of the visa fraud. Judge Jarvey found that the fraud was “long-standing” and “sophisticated” and he commended the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Office of Inspector General - Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigations, and the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General, for their thorough investigation.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa. The case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Office of Inspector General - Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigations, and the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General and the Clinton Police Department.