‘This right here is everything that’s wrong with H-1Bs’: Trump official knocks on the door of Pakistani event manager Mohammad Abbas accused of selling visas
Texas journalist Sara Gonzales brought Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito to the registered office of Mohammad Abbas in Texas, accusing him of selling H-1B visas and Green Cards. In her recent video, Gonzales documented what happened leading to the visit of D’Esposito, who was in Texas for an on-the-ground inspection of H-1B visa fraud. The DOL announced a massive crackdown on H-1B scams and the field visit was part of the inspection that Trump officials are doing to check if companies sponsoring H-1B visas are fake.Sara Gonzales said she was reached out to by several whistleblowers who claimed to have been defrauded by Abbas who runs many companies — all with a single address. The whistleblowers claimed that they paid Abbas for sponsoring visas but they did not get visa and lost the money. Gonzales first visited Abbas’s office and then his residence and found no one at either place. She then called Abbas and directly asked him if he sold visas and Green Cards. Abbas told her that he sells ‘Indian concerts’ and when Sara asked him for a meeting, he said he would let her know via text.Abbas’s attorney, Scott E Hayes, rang Gonzales and asked what all she wanted to know from Abbas and the purpose of it. Gonzales again visited the office and was told by the security to leave. Then cops were called and next Gonzales came to the address with D’Esposito who said his department took all the documents and the evidence of fraud as alleged from Gonzales.“This right here is everything that’s wrong with H-1Bs,” D’Esposito said. “This is why fraud is taking away American jobs from American workers.” D’Esposito appealed to individuals involved or victimized by the alleged scheme to get in touch with the Labor Department, noting that “whistleblowers are protected.”
Who is Mohammad Abbas and what are the allegations against him?
There is no official information about Abbas or any formal complaint against him. Gonzales in her video claimed that Abbas owns multiple companies — including Molabs Media, which has lost the right to transact business in the Lone Star State, and HiTech Network Solutions — which appear to cite the same Dallas corporate suite as their headquarters.According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ H-1B Employer Data Hub, these organizations sponsored H-1B visas in recent years. The organizations, which appear to have recently scrubbed their team webpages, also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in PPP loans that were later forgiven, according to ProPublica’s “Tracking PPP” database, Gonzales said.Abbas, Gonzales said, runs some funds through a bank account in Pakistan and his LinkedIn profile says he was educated in Bangladesh. Gonzales identified a woman named Rachel Samuel as the apparent recruiter and point of contact for individuals allegedly trying to buy Green Cards or visas from Abbas.
