Two Indian-origin Telugu men in the US have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit H-1B visa fraud, said the US Justice Department. Residents of California’s Dublin, Sampath Rajidi and Sreedhar Mada, both 51, hired foreign nationals and promised them jobs at the University of California, but in reality, the university had no such requirements. Both Rajidi and Mada face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to documents from the US Justice Department released on Friday, Sampath Rajidi operated two visa-processing companies, S-Team Software Inc. and Uptrend Technologies LLC. As part of the business models of S-Team and Uptrend, Rajidi petitioned for H-1B Speciality Occupation worker visas to obtain foreign workers for temporary placement with various companies. Sreedhar Mada worked as the Chief Information Officer of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Mada only had the supervisory authority, and he had no power to hire H-1B workers for his department without consulting people in the senior positions.
From June 2020 to January 2023, the duo conspired to submit fraudulent H-1B visa petitions for numerous beneficiaries. In the submitted petitions, Rajidi would falsely represent that beneficiaries would be employed in positions with the University of California. Mada used his position as Chief Information Officer and bolstered the false assertion that beneficiaries would be staffed on projects for the university.
TELUGU DUO HIT CHANCES OF FIRMS PLAYING BY H-1B RULES
The allocation of H-1B visas takes place through a lottery system. Rajidi and Mada’s false institutional claims secured approvals that their candidates would have never otherwise received. This move effectively took spots away from applicants at competing firms who were playing by the rules.
According to the court documents, the duo were aware that the positions listed on the petitions did not exist.
“The beneficiaries did not work on projects at the University of California, and the defendants instead undertook to market these beneficiaries to other clients, having already secured H1-B visas based on the false assertions. They submitted false information knowing such information was material to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) decisions in granting visas. As a result of their conspiracy, Rajidi and Mada gained an unfair advantage over other firms and depleted the pool of H-1B visas available to competing firms,” the court document reads.
Several federal agencies, including the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate, are investigating the case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Douglas Harman.
– Ends
Published By:
Avinash Kateel
Published On:
Apr 20, 2026 12:36 IST
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