Boota Singh Basi and Kashmir Singh Malhi, both of
Modesto, California, on Oct. 15 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make
false statements under oath, according to a press release from the
United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of
California.
They had been charged with filing fraudulent
applications for asylum with the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, now known as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
the release added. Basi also pleaded guilty to one count of
promoting a specified unlawful activity by laundering monetary
instruments.
Basi, 24, and Malhi, 51, were arrested by agents of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on April 18, 2003, when
their residence was searched for evidence.
According to documents filed with the court, Basi
operated immigration consultant businesses in Hayward and Modesto,
while Malhi assisted him. Till earlier this year, they solicited
clients, primarily Indian nationals living in New York, New Jersey
and other states, with a scheme for obtaining asylum from the asylum
office in San Francisco, the release said.
After receiving the agreed-upon fee, or some part
of it, Basi and Malhi prepared asylum forms containing materially
false information and prepared false stories for the applicants to
tell the asylum officers and immigration judges, the release said.
They also provided the applicants with lists of
false documents to obtain from India, and rehearsed the applicants
in learning their false stories to be told during the asylum
interviews, the release said. Basi also pleaded guilty to promoting
the scheme by conducting financial transactions involving property
received from their unlawful activity. He admitted that he withdrew
checks totaling $60,154 from a Guaranty Bank account as payments for
office expenses, which represented wire fraud, the release said.
Their sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 7 before U.S. District Judge
Phyllis J. Hamilton in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty
includes 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.
(Compiled from a press release)
Law