Chicago man gets two years for staged-robbery U visa fraud scheme

Right · 2Parth Nayi, a 29-year-old Chicago-area man, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in a scheme of staged armed robberies that helped noncitizens apply for U visas. 1 2 Right · 1Breitbart, citing CWBChicago, reports that Nayi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, that U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland imposed the sentence, and that Nayi was also fined $50,000. 1 Right · 2The U visa was created under a 2000 law for victims of serious crimes who help law enforcement. In the scheme, people posed as victims of robberies at small restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations and bodegas, then were coached to seek law-enforcement certification on I-918 forms before applying to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2 1

Right · 1Prosecutors, quoted by Fox News from a sentencing memo by Assistant U.S. Attorney Saqib Mohammad Hussain, described Nayi as the main organiser at the centre of almost every one of the hundreds of staged robberies, and said Nayi had significantly corrupted the U visa program. 2 Right · 2Fox News reports prosecutors said participants paid Nayi as much as $30,000 and that thousands of people posed as victims; Breitbart, citing CWBChicago, says migrants paid up to $10,000 and that most were of Latin and South American origin. 2 1 Right · 2Prosecutors said Nayi and another suspect, Kewon Young, recruited people to act as armed robbers, who at times struck the purported victims to make the robbery look real. Breitbart says store employees often helped and that prosecutors cited 17 specific robberies. 2 1

Right · 2In a 2023 robbery, one of the assailants accidentally fired a gun and hit a store employee, who survived; Fox, citing CWB Chicago, places it in July 2023 at a Chicago liquor store and says the employee was critically injured. 1 2 Right · 2Fox names alleged co-conspirators Bhikhabhai Patel, Nilesh Patel, Ravinaben Patel and Rajnikumar Patel, who approached Nayi to pose as victims. It says the 2024 indictment lists locations including a Subway in Louisiana and a truck stop in Tennessee. Both outlets say five others have been convicted. 2 1 Right · 1Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., lead sponsor of the law that created the U visa, told Fox News Digital that visa fraudsters should be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Fox said it asked Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for comment and had received no response in the article. 2

Right · 1Breitbart adds that similar investigations have been launched in Massachusetts, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri, and cites a Center for Immigration Studies study saying about 416,000 U visa petitions have been filed against an annual cap of 10,000. 1