Recruiter for ICE's Fake University Sentenced to Six Months in Jail

On Wednesday, Judge Gershwin Drain sentenced Phanideep Karnati, a recruiter for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's fake university, to six months in prison, the least amount of jail time any of the eight people indicted received.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit created the University of Farmington to uncover immigration fraud. In 2019, about 250 people were arrested and ordered to leave the country for violating their student visa since the university didn't offer a legitimate education.

Karnati, a recruiter charged in the case, came to the U.S. in 2011 on an H-1B work visa and supplemented his income by aiding students from India in applying to universities in the U.S., including Farmington. He was arrested on January 13, 2019, for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harbor aliens for profit and now faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Ahead of his sentencing, federal prosecutors and Anjali Prasad, Karnati's attorney, submitted sentencing memorandums to Drain.

Prasad asked Drain to sentence Karnati to time served so he can return to America with his family to India, where, without him, she said they would be unable to support themselves. Federal prosecutors asked for a sentence ranging between 24 and 30 months in prison and removal from the U.S. upon completion.

Sentences for other individuals indicted for facilitating the fraudulent scheme received between 12 months and one day and 24 months.

To support an argument in favor of what they considered proper punishment, both sides used conversation transcripts involving Karnati, undercover agents and students, but each painted different pictures of what people thought the university's purpose was.

Prasad told Newsweek that her client informed students they didn't have to go to class because there weren't any physical classes to attend.

"He believed the university was online and so did his students. This is why they were confused when they called the school directly. And this is why he was confused when he was arrested," Prasad said.

Federal prosecutors, however, argued to Drain that when Karnati told students there weren't classes it was because he knew the university, which didn't have instructors, offered no coursework. They argued students used the fictitious university as a "pay to stay" scheme, in which they could remain in the United States on student visas without pursuing an education.

According to court documents, in February 2018, one of Karnati's students called the university to inquire about the schedule for online classes. When the school informed the student that it didn't offer online classes, he told the person on the phone that he wasn't aware of that and needed to talk to Karnati.

In June 2018, Karnati met with undercover agent Ali Milani at Farmington. Court documents show Karnati telling Milani that online courses were "of course" "all going on still," despite campus being at capacity. Based on that conversation, Prasad claimed in her sentencing memo it was "apparent" her client thought the school offered online coursework.

In its memorandum, the government also highlighted the June trip to Farmington but claimed Karnati acknowledging the school "couldn't provide" classes to students looking to maintain their status showed he understood the education was illegitimate.

News of the operation didn't sit well with some people, including Massachusetts senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, who claimed it amounted to entrapment. However, in a letter published on ICE's website, ICE acting deputy director Derek Benner denied students were duped and wrote that students used Farmington to work full-time, a violation of their nonimmigrant status.

ICE also posted a montage of clips of the undercover work that was done, showing agents informing prospective students that they wouldn't be taking classes and it wasn't legal.

Newsweek reached out to Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Helms, who is prosecuting the case, through email but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Karnarti pleaded guilty and admitted to knowing that students on an F-1 visa cannot maintain their status by attending all online courses. In her sentencing memo, Prasad pointed to Karnati's own admission as evidence he wasn't free of guilt from the crime but claimed he was less culpable than the other recruiters and wasn't out to scam America.

Prosecutors, however, argued scamming the system was what Karnati and the students he recruited wanted to do.

"Today's sentencing of the final criminal defendant in HSI's University of Farmington investigation makes it unequivocally clear that every individual who participated in this scheme knew it was an illegal pay-to-stay scam," said Vance Callender, HSI Detroit special agent in charge, said in a statement.