Federal Agents Raid Clinton, Iowa Business

Title:
Federal Agents Raid Clinton, Iowa Business

Description:
KWQC-TV6 News clip - 02.11.09. Two immigrants involved in two computer sales and Internet companies in Clinton, Iowa, are charged in connection with a five-year-long FBI investigation, documents say. Fazal Mehmood, also known as Fazal Awan, is charged with misuse of a Social Security number and making a false record relating the registry of aliens. Vineet Maheshwari is charged with false immigration documentation. The companies involved are Worldwide Software Services Inc. and Sana Systems Inc. The arrests come after a five-year investigation involving subpoenas, mail covers, surveillance, source development and interviews to gather information relating to money laundering, alien smuggling, immigration and visa fraud, bank fraud and tax fraud, documents say. Mehmood and Maheshwari made their initial appearances Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Davenport. According to court documents: Mehmood, 258 Cragmor Drive, Clinton, and originally of Pakistan, applied for and received two Social Security numbers in 1989 and 1990, the second using an altered name and a promise he had never filed for a Social Security number before. He opened a bank account at Members Choice Credit Union with the second number, his immigration records and his Canadian drivers license. He obtained a credit card with this account, which he uses to travel here and abroad. Worldwide Software Services Inc. filed a form on behalf of Mehmood in 2000 to adjust Mehmoods status to permanent resident. He obtained an Iowa drivers license in 1990, also using the false card. He opened a second bank account at First Gateway Community Credit Union in 2003, depositing $10,000. Several additional large deposits were made to the account, which was closed a year later. He opened a third account at Clinton National Bank, also with his false Social Security number. Meanwhile, Sana Systems filed a petition for a non-immigrant worker in July 2000, to offer a Pakistani national, Muhammad Ali Malik employment. It was granted. A subsequent application, in 2003, stated how much the company relied on Malik. However, in an interview in September with federal authorities, Malik said that when he arrived in the United States on Sept. 24, 2001, there was no job waiting for him in Clinton. He ended up working as a cashier in a convenience store in California, earning $6 an hour and working a 48-hour work week. He stayed in touch with the person he knew as Fazal Awan. He came to work in Clinton for seven months in 2003. He quit at the end of the year and moved to Atlanta, where he returned to working at gas stations. In a letter dated the end of December 2003, Sana Systems advised they wish to withdraw the non-immigrant worker request for Malik. The letter said that Malik went for a vacation and has not reported back to us for a long time. We believe he either has transferred to another company or has returned to his home country. Maheshwari, identified as the vice president, entered the country as a student at Maharishi International University in 1993. A request for specialty worker status for Sana Systems in Clinton was made in 1996. It was initially denied because his student visa expired. He returned to India and it was approved in 1997. He then filed as a registered agent for Worldwide Software Services Inc. A third company, Network Resource Group Inc. of Springfield, Ill., filed a request for worker status for Maheshwari as well. Documents show he worked for all three. However, on a form to request permanent resident status filed in March 2008, he only listed his employment at Network Resource Group when asked for his employment for the past five years.

Author:
kensethfaniniowa

Tags:
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