An Indian national has admitted guilt in a conspiracy involving visa fraud, which included orchestrating armed robberies to enable individuals to falsely assert they were victims of crime and thereby gain U.S. immigration benefits, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Mitul Patel, a 40-year-old resident of Worcester, Massachusetts, entered a guilty plea in federal court in Boston for conspiracy to commit visa fraud. Prosecutors indicated that Patel was part of a group of Indian nationals engaged in a scheme aimed at unlawfully obtaining U visas, a type of immigration relief granted to victims of specific crimes who cooperate with law enforcement investigations.
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Mitul Patel: Here’s what court documents say
According to court records, the conspirators planned staged armed robberies at various convenience stores, liquor stores, and restaurants in Massachusetts and beyond. The purpose of these incidents was to portray store clerks as victims of violent crimes, thus allowing them to submit immigration applications founded on false claims.
Federal authorities indicated that individuals involved would orchestrate fictitious robberies, during which a person impersonating a robber brandished what seemed to be a firearm and stole cash from store registers. Surveillance footage documented these events, after which the alleged victims would notify law enforcement and subsequently utilize the reports to bolster their immigration applications.
Prosecutors claimed that Patel acted as one of the supposed victims in a contrived robbery and subsequently pursued immigration advantages based on the invented event. His guilty plea represents the most recent advancement in a wider federal inquiry into the operation.
Federal probe and Rambhai Patel
The matter originates from an inquiry that led to charges against 11 Indian nationals alleged to have participated in the conspiracy. In April, a federal grand jury indicted 10 Indian nationals on conspiracy charges related to the orchestrated robberies. Authorities said that several defendants were residing in the US illegally, while one had already been deported back to India.
Federal investigators have stated that the conspiracy was orchestrated by Rambhai Patel, who was charged in 2023 and subsequently convicted. Another individual involved, Balwinder Singh, acted as a getaway driver in multiple staged incidents.
What is U visa program?
The U visa program was established to motivate victims of serious crimes to assist law enforcement without the apprehension of immigration repercussions. Fraudulent activities, like the one revealed in Massachusetts, undermine the program’s intent and misallocate resources away from genuine applicants.
Patel and his sentence
Patel is set to receive his sentence on July 29. A conviction for conspiracy to commit visa fraud may result in a maximum sentence of five years in prison, supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and the possibility of deportation after serving any sentence.
