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 WHO WAS CONVICTED ON MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD
CHARGES SENTENCED TO 50 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Defendant Must Also Pay More Than $300,000 in Restitution to Victims

DALLAS — Suman K. Varansi, who was convicted late last year on mail and wire fraud charges, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to 50 months in prison and ordered to pay $301,575 in restitution, announced United States Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Varansi, a citizen of India, present in the United States on a non-immigrant H1-B employment-based visa, defrauded other Indian immigrants by promising to help them obtain “green cards” in exchange for a fee. He collected the fee, but did not provide the assistance promised.

Vanansi founded Zenstra Solutions, a 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 more than 150 applicants 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.

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

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Yanowitch and Christopher Stokes.

# # #