Two East Bay men pleaded guilty Thursday in Sacramento federal court to conspiracy to commit visa fraud after admitting they filed H‑1B petitions that falsely claimed beneficiaries would work for the University of California. Prosecutors say it was a years‑long setup that quietly turned UC job offers into a sales pitch for coveted visas.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California, Dublin residents Sampath Rajidi, 51, and Sreedhar Mada, 51, admitted the scheme. Rajidi ran two visa‑servicing firms, S‑Team Software Inc. and Uptrend Technologies LLC, while Mada was the chief information officer at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources in Davis. Prosecutors say Mada lent his official title to bolster petitions that falsely represented the beneficiaries would be staffed on UC projects.
How the scheme worked
Prosecutors say the fraud ran between June 2020 and January 2023, when Rajidi and Mada submitted H‑1B petitions that listed UC positions that did not exist. The beneficiaries, according to reporting by Action News Now, did not work on University projects and were later marketed to other clients after receiving visas. Officials say the bogus filings gave Rajidi's firms an unfair edge and ate into the limited H‑1B visa pool that legitimate sponsors rely on.
What's next in court
Both men are scheduled for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley on July 30, 2026, and face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, per the U.S. Attorney's Office. The investigation involved the 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, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Harman. Sentencing, prosecutors say, will follow federal sentencing factors and the advisory guidelines.
Why it matters locally
Immigration experts and federal regulators have tightened oversight of H‑1B filings in recent years, part of broader changes in the H‑1B modernization rule that emphasize program integrity and site‑visit authority. The final rule and related DHS guidance, published in the Federal Register, strengthened checks aimed at catching fake job offers and coordinated filings that can disadvantage legitimate employers. For local hiring managers and small staffing firms, the case lands as a very specific reminder that misrepresenting job placements on visa petitions can bring both criminal exposure and long‑term reputational damage.
Takeaway
The case underscores how intermediaries can manipulate staffing arrangements to secure visas that are then redirected to private clients. Court records and the upcoming sentencing are likely to reveal more about the scope of the operation and any restitution or forfeiture the government seeks.
