Note: This story was updated to offer information about the outcome of this case.

Four executives at IT staffing companies were arrested on suspicion of fraudulently using the H-1B visa program, the US Department of Justice announced today.

The defendants were allegedly involved in a scheme where they used a fake client company to obtain H-1B visas for workers who were then put on a bench for assignment to other companies, according to the department.

Those arrested include Vijay Mane, 39, of Princeton, New Jersey; Venkataramana Mannam, 47, of Edison, New Jersey; Fernando Silva, 53, of Princeton; and Sateesh Vemuri, 52, of San Jose, California,

All are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud.

Three of the defendants — Mane, Mannam and Vemuri — controlled New Jersey-based IT staffing firms Procure Professionals Inc. and Krypto IT Solutions, according to the department. A third IT staffing firm, referred to by the department as “Client A,” was controlled by Silva and Mannam.

Procure and Krypto filed H-1B applications claiming workers had positions at Client A when no such positions existed, according to the department.

“Instead, the defendants used these fraudulent applications to build a ‘bench’ of job candidates already admitted to the United States who could then be hired out immediately to client companies without the need to wait through the visa application process, giving the defendants an advantage over their competitors in the staffing industry,” according to the department.

The defendants face a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Update: Vemuri was sentenced to 11 months of probation on June 13, 2022, and fined $10,000. Mane also received 11 months of probation in a sentencing on April 22, 2021, and was fined $3,000. Mannam was sentenced June 7, 2022, to 11 months of probation as well as fined $15,000. Silva was sentenced to one year of probation on June 6, 2022, and fined $3,000. SIA has reached out for more information.