Owners Of Staffing Firm Plead Guilty To Visa Fraud

India-West Staff Reporter

SANTA CLARA, CA – Kishore Dattapuram, 55, has pleaded guilty in federal court to visa fraud and conspiracy to commit visa fraud, announced the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. Dattapuram was charged alongside two other defendants, Kumar Aswapathi, 55, of Austin, Texas, and Santosh Giri, 48, of San Jose, in a case involving fraudulent H-1B visa applications.

The three defendants faced an indictment filed on February 28, 2019, with each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and 10 counts of substantive visa fraud. Aswapathi previously pleaded guilty to all counts on October 19, 2020, and Giri pleaded guilty to all counts on October 28, 2024.

Dattapuram and Aswapathi owned and operated Nanosemantics, Inc., a San Jose-based staffing firm that placed skilled employees with technology companies in the Bay Area. Under its agreements with clients and employees, Nanosemantics earned commissions for placing workers at client companies. Giri, who worked closely with Nanosemantics, owned LexGiri, a legal process outsourcing firm that served as a “remote-virtual corporate immigration specialist” for companies.

Nanosemantics frequently submitted H-1B petitions for foreign workers as part of its staffing operations. The H-1B program allows foreign workers temporary authorization to work for U.S. employers, and requires companies to file Form I-129 petitions with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), confirming the existence, duration, and salary of the position awaiting the applicant.

According to his guilty plea, Dattapuram admitted to collaborating with Aswapathi and Giri to submit fraudulent H-1B applications. These applications falsely claimed that foreign workers had job offers from specific end-client companies, though the jobs did not exist. Dattapuram also admitted to paying companies to be listed as end-clients for these workers, despite knowing the workers would not actually work for those employers. The scheme aimed to allow Nanosemantics to pre-secure visas for candidates before finding them jobs, granting the company an advantage over competitors.

Sentencing for Dattapuram and Giri is set for February 24, 2025, before Judge Davila, while Aswapathi’s status regarding sentencing is scheduled for November 25, 2024. Each defendant faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each visa fraud count, along with up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy count.