The school's website was registered in 2016 by the fake university and named a Dr. Ned Roberts as its administrative contact. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Karin Fischer tells NPR's Scott Simon why agents set … In that case, HSI agents created the University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ) out of whole cloth — and used it to indict 21 "brokers, recruiters, and employers" from across the U.S., the The bogus Farmington college is not to be confused with the Sama and Kandala met with an undercover agent at the university in January 2018 to collect $20,000 for recruiting students, prosecutors allege.Sama collected another $20,000 in June 2018, according to the indictment.The fake university is a new chapter in a long history of federal agents creating phony entities to thwart crime.In the late 1970s, the FBI ran an investigation code-named ABSCAM that utilized a phony company in Long Island to crack down on public corruption and organized crime.
The "University of Farmington" occupied office space in this building in Farmington Hills, Mich. And the 2012 film "Argo" was inspired by the work of a Central Intelligence Agency operative and involved a phony science-fiction movie.The Farmington case isn't the first time federal agents have used a phony university.In 2016, Homeland Security agents used the fake University of Northern New Jersey to charge 21 people with student and work visa fraud.Federal agents deployed several tactics to make the University of Farmington appear to be a legitimate school. News Summary – F1 CPT Students of University of Farmington Arrested by ICE. The University of Farmington, a fake school in Michigan, was the product of a four-year undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security. The "University of Farmington" occupied office space in this building in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Its office sat along a leafy parkway in Farmington Hills — a sign in the parking lot said the University of Farmington was on the second floor, next to a realty company's office.On its contact page, the ersatz university told potential applicants, "We'd love to hear from you. Arrests of Day 1 CPT Students : ICE performed an undercover operation and arrested many F1 students attending fake University created by the agents called “University of Farmington” in Michigan… The University of Farmington was a fake school set up by U.S.

"I was like 'what is this?'" They are Barath Kakireddy, Suresh Reddy Kandala, Phanideep Karnati, Prem Kumar Rampeesa, Santosh Reddy Sama, Avinash Thakkallapally, Naveen Prathipati and Aswanth Nune.

Federal agents used a fake university in Farmington Hills to lure alleged phony foreign students who were trying to stay in the United States illegally.The University of Farmington had no staff, no instructors, no curriculum and no classes but was utilized by undercover Homeland Security agents to identify people involved in immigration fraud, according to federal grand jury indictments unsealed Wednesday.Eight student recruiters were charged with participating in a conspiracy to help at least 600 foreign citizens stay in the U.S. illegally, according to the indictments, which describe a novel investigation that dates to 2015 but intensified one month into President Donald Trump's tenure as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration.Simultaneously Wednesday, federal agents arrested dozens of University of Farmington students in a nationwide sweep. "Six of them were arrested in metro Detroit, one in Florida and another in Virginia," according to the A grand jury indicted the alleged recruiters on Jan. 15, but those records remained sealed until Wednesday.From early 2017 to January 2019, the men "assisted at least 600 other foreign citizens to illegally remain, re-enter and work in the United States, and actively recruited them to enroll" at Farmington in a "pay to stay" scheme, the indictment states.Many of the alleged recruiters visited the university's office to collect payments for their efforts, according to the indictment, which says they were paid sums ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 on each trip.