Chicago-area man sentenced for staged robberies to help visa applicants: feds
CHICAGO – A suburban Chicago man was sentenced to two years in federal prison for staging armed robberies meant to help the purported victims to apply for immigrant visas.
What we know:
Parth Nayi, of Woodridge, pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois.
Between 2022 and 2024, Nayi organized and participated in hundreds of staged armed robberies at coffee shops, restaurants, liquor stores and gas stations across the Chicago area, prosecutors said.
The victims paid Nayi between $5,000 and $30,000 each to participate in the scam, so they could later apply for Nonimmigrant U-Visas, which are designated for foreign nationals who are victims of certain crimes and who assist law enforcement in the investigation.
A federal judge sentenced Nayo this past week to two years in prison and fined him $50,000.
What they’re saying:
“Defendant was the main organizer and at the center of almost every single one of the hundreds of staged robberies that were perpetrated,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Saqib Mohammad Hussain, in the prosecutors’ sentencing memo. “Defendant significantly corrupted the federal U Visa program, designed to provide a benefit to a particularly vulnerable group—foreign nationals who are victims of serious crimes while visiting the United States.”
Prosecutors added that five other individuals have been convicted as part of the federal investigation.
