Three indicted in connection with visa fraud scheme

Three people have been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a visa fraud scheme related to a consulting firm in Santa Clara, United States Attorney David Anderson announced Thursday.

Kishore Dattapuram, 49, of Santa Clara, Kumar Aswapathi, 49, of Austin, Texas, and Santosh Giri, 42, of San Jose, have each been charged with a count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and 10 counts of substantive visa fraud, prosecutors said.

The defendants operated Nanosemantics, a consulting firm with services that included placing skilled foreign workers at software and technology companies in the Bay Area.

They are accused of submitting fraudulent H-1B visa applications on behalf of foreign workers in order to gain a competitive advantage over competing firms.

Dattapuram, Aswapathi and Giri were arrested Wednesday and face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine plus restitution for each visa fraud count and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine plus restitution for the conspiracy count.