NEWARK - An Indian national was sentenced today to 20 months in federal prison for immigration fraud for fraudulently assisting hundreds of immigrant aliens to live and work illegally in New Jersey and elsewhere in the United States, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie announced.

U.S. District Court Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise also ordered Narendra Mandalapa a/k/a "Ramesh Dashrth,” Mandalapa, 36, to forfeit more than $5.7 million and two late model luxury cars which represented proceeds of his crimes. Judge Debevoise fined Mandalapa $25,000.

Mandalapa was the owner and president of Cybersoftec, Inc., a business consulting company that was based in Edison during 2004 and 2005. Mandalapa was arrested on Nov. 3, 2005 on a criminal Complaint and has been in custody since then.

“This sentence proves that America's immigration system is not something criminals like Mandalapa can exploit for profit without significant consequences,” said Thomas E. Manifase, deputy special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Newark office. "Benefit, identity and document fraud pose a clear national security concern that we take very seriously.”

On June 19, 2006, Mandalapa pleaded guilty before Judge Debevoise to one count of immigration fraud. He had been indicted on May 5, 2006. The Indictment charged Mandalapa with, among other things, attempting to fraudulently cause the Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) to approve at least 250 Immigrant Petitions for Alien Workers (Forms I-140) that he submitted to CIS. An I-140 is a petition for an alien worker to become a lawful resident in the United States.

Mandalapa admitted that he caused the fraudulent I-140s to be submitted to CIS on behalf of aliens between about September 2004 through October 2005. He admitted that with the fraudulent I-140s, he also provided CIS with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Labor Certifications that the DOL had never approved. A Labor Certification is a document in which DOL certifies to CIS that there are no qualified United States workers available and willing to accept the position sought in the Labor Certification.

Mandalapa admitted that he received up to $22,000 from aliens for the filing of the fraudulent I-140s and DOL Labor Certifications.

Mandalapa also admitted that he submitted a fraudulent I-140 to CIS on his own behalf under the assumed name Ramesh Dashrth. In doing so, Mandalapa admitted that he provided CIS with fraudulent Cybersoftec federal tax returns for 2003 and 2004 to purportedly demonstrate that Cybersoftec, Inc. had the ability to pay "Ramesh Dashrth."

In particular, those federal tax returns falsely represented that Cybersoftec, Inc. had paid federal income taxes during 2003 or 2004 and falsely represented that those federal tax returns had been filed with the IRS. In fact, Cybersoftec, Inc. failed to pay any federal income taxes during 2003 or 2004 and failed to file federal tax returns during those years.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam S. Lurie of the U.S. Attorney's Securities and Healthcare Fraud Unit in Newark.

-- ICE --