Who are Abdul Murshid and Muhammad Nasir? Pakistani nationals in Texas held for visa fraud in US, Kash Patel responds
Two Texas residents, who are originally from Pakistan, were indicted on May 23 for running a years-long visa fraud operation. According to federal prosecutors, 39-year-old Abdul Hadi Murshid and 35-year-old Muhammad Salman Nasir's operation exploited US immigration programs for personal profit. The duo, along with the Law Offices of D. Robert Jones PLLC and Reliable Ventures, Inc., are now reportedly facing charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, visa fraud, money laundering, and racketeering.Murshid and Nasir were also charged with unlawfully obtaining and attempting to obtain US citizenship, CBS News reported.
FBI Director Kash Patel lauded theFBI teams and partners in the investigation for nabbing the duo. He wrote in an X post, 'Major arrests out of @FBIDallas. Abdul Hadi Murshid and Muhammad Salman Nasir — two individuals out of Texas who allegedly oversaw and operated a criminal enterprise circumventing American immigration laws by selling fraudulent visa applications.'
According to an indictment, Murshid and Nasirexploited the EB-2, EB-3, and H-1B visa programs.
'Specifically, the defendants caused classified advertisements to be placed in a daily periodical for non-existent jobs," the United States Attorney's office said. 'These advertisements were placed in order to satisfy a Department of Labor ('DOL') requirement to offer the position to United States citizens before hiring foreign nationals. Once they received the fraudulently obtained certification for from the Department of Labor, the defendants filed a petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ('USCIS') to obtain an immigrant visa for the visa seekers.'
The statement added, 'At the time the petitions were submitted, the defendants also submitted an application for legal permanent residence so that the visa seekers could also obtain a green card. According to the indictment, to make the non-existent jobs look legitimate, the defendants received payment from visa seekers, then returned a portion of the money back to the visa seekers as purported payroll.'
Murshid and Nasir face up to 20years in federal prison if convicted. Murshid even faces denaturalization if he ends up being convicted of unlawfully obtaining and attempting to obtain his United States citizenship.
'These defendants are charged with engaging in extensive measures to hide a massive, multi-year, immigration fraud scheme through which they reaped substantial personal financial gain,' said Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham. 'Pursuing criminal charges to deter and punish this type of flagrant disregard for the lawful immigration process is a top priority of this Office.'
'The defendants allegedly oversaw an international criminal enterprise for years that repeatedly undermined our nation's immigration laws,' FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said.
On Friday, May 23, Murshid and Nasir appeared before US Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford. A detention hearing before US Magistrate Judge Brian McKay has been scheduled for May 20.
While the probe was conducted by the FBI, the case is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. Attorneys Ted Hocter, Tiffany H. Eggers, and Jongwoo Chung. Significant assistance to the probe was provided by the Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.
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