Tech Firm to Pay $34 Million Fine to Settle Visa Fraud
Indian tech giant Infosys will pay the U.S. government $34 million to settle charges of extensive visa fraud. In 2012, CBS news conducted an undercover investigation based on information provided by an Infosys whistleblower. The report found that Infosys was guilty of massive visa fraud and putting thousands of American workers out of a job.
Jay Palmer, a former principal consultant at Infosys, came forward as a whistleblower after an Indian employee came forward with a confession: "I had an employee over from India that had been over several times before, and he came up to me, and he was literally in tears. He told me he was over here illegally. ... He didn't want to be here. He was worried that he would get caught."
According to CBS News:
The scheme Palmer says he uncovered involved bringing in Indian workers into the U.S. under false pretenses, using visas claiming they had special expertise that couldn't be found in the U.S., visas claiming they were just here for a meeting, and visas claiming they wouldn't work in the U.S. CBS News obtained internal Infosys documents that allegedly gave employees instructions on how to lie once they got to immigration.
Palmer also said that the fradulent employees did not have any special skills that Americans didn't have -- "Absolutely not. Not even close." -- and that the upper echelons of Infosys felt that it was easy to get around the law; he once heard an Infosys employee say, "Americans are stupid."
The settlement will be announcded the by Justice Department Wednesday morning.
You can read more about this and the special investigation on CBS News' website.