'Where are all the workers?' BlazeTV's Sara Gonzales exposes potential H-1B visa fraud in Texas



BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales appears to have uncovered a rash of possible H-1B visa fraud in the Lone Star State.

"If you thought Somalian day-care fraud was a problem, it turns out that's just the tip of the iceberg," said Gonzales. "There's a whole new problem that it turns out is taking tens of thousands of jobs away from Americans and changing our communities forever that you probably haven't even thought of. I'm talking about H-1B visas."

The H-1B visa program enables U.S.-based employers to temporarily hire foreign workers into specialized positions that American citizens supposedly can't do. H-1B specialty occupation workers are generally admitted for a period of up to three years, which can in most cases be extended for another three years.

'I'm not buying it.'

While the H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa, it paves the way for foreigners to obtain permanent residency in the country.

Lawmakers from both parties have in recent years expressed concerns about H-1B visa fraud and abuse, proposing amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act that would reform or even abolish the program.

Amid chatter online about serial abuse of the program in Texas, Gonzales began scrutinizing H-1B employers operating in her region, two of which didn't pass the smell test.

One of the two companies, which appears in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' H-1B Employer Datahub as Qubitz Tech Sysystems [sic] LLC, had 12 H-1B beneficiaries approved last year. The company, whose visa job contact is Hari Madiraju, has apparently been hiring "software developers" from abroad for years.

RELATED: Woke Whitmer appointee from Nigeria admits to day-care scam, stealing millions from Michigan taxpayers

BlazeTV

Gonzales went to the address listed for Qubitz in Frisco, Texas — a four-bedroom house in a residential neighborhood where a man responding to "Hari" answered the door.

In footage of the encounter, Hari appears greatly vexed by Gonzales' presence and even more so when she asks about Qubitz and its H-1B visa workers.

The moment that Gonzales mentions Qubitz, Hari announces that he is calling the police.

"I would love for the cops to come out here," says Gonzales.

"Are the workers in here? Are the 12 workers for your company in here? Do they work out of here?"

Hari indicates that the workers are located at his "company." When Gonzales asks where his company is, Hari appears to tell the 911 operator, "Somebody is knocking on my door and then they are like threatening me. ... Please, can you help me?"

Gonzales later paid a visit to the supposed Qubitz office Hari suggested was headquarters for his dozen or more workers only to find a prison-cell-sized room with a single chair and some folding tables.

"Pretty cramped working quarters for 12 H-1B workers," said Gonzales. "I'm not buying it."

3Bees Technologies Inc., which is listed as active on the Texas Comptroller website, similarly raised eyebrows.

According to the H-1B Employer Datahub, the company — whose agent, director, and president is Vamsi Krishna Vajinapally — had 27 H-1B beneficiaries approved in 2022 and 19 visa petitions apparently denied the following year.

While the visas approved in 2022 for Vajinapally's foreign workforce — which at one time supposedly comprised software developers, software quality assurance analysts, and software engineers — are apparently no longer valid, Gonzales was nevertheless surprised to find little evidence the recipients had a legitimate workplace to leave behind.

The BlazeTV host visited the location listed as the company's address in Irving, Texas. As with Qubitz, she found a house in a residential neighborhood.

After finding no discernible evidence of people working at the location during business hours and receiving passing insight from a neighbor that something shady was afoot on the block, Gonzales traveled to the recently updated Plano address on the 3Bees website.

At that location, Gonzales found a building under construction, devoid of signs of office workers and software development. Gonzales indicated that while the location is currently being transformed into a social club, the location was formerly a WeWork, a remote office space that anyone can rent.

Gonzales indicated that Vajinapally of 3Bees has attempted to hire H-1B workers for another supposed tech business whose alleged Texas-based office is another rentable virtual office in Lewisville.

Qubitz and 3Bees did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

"Once you start scraping data from H-1B databases, you start seeing immediately all of these patterns," said Gonzales.

"The biggest question I have right now is: If we were able to find this with just a little bit of Google-searching and follow-up, why hasn't USCIS done anything to combat this?"

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Woke Whitmer appointee from Nigeria admits to day-care scam, stealing millions from Michigan taxpayers



Minnesota is hardly the only state whose kindness to migrants from the third world has been abused. Michiganders, too, have apparently opened their arms to foreign-born fraudsters who are more than happy to steal from their host state's most vulnerable residents.

Nkechy Ezeh, a woke Nigerian who served as a professor at Aquinas College until 2023, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme that bled taxpayers for $1 million and forced an organization that funded early learning initiatives for poor kids to close.

'Her theft of millions of dollars intended for the most vulnerable of children was brazen, all-encompassing, and unconscionable.'

Ezeh could face up to 20 years in prison for the fraud charge and another five years for tax evasion — a charge to which she also pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

In the years since she migrated to the U.S., Ezeh has complained about "structural racism" while being showered with awards and opportunities.

In 2018, for instance, the West Michigan Woman Brilliance Awards named her woman of the year. In 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Ezeh to the executive committee of Michigan's Early Childhood Investment Corporation. In 2021, Aquinas College honored the Nigerian fraudster with its Distinguished Service Award.

The acclaim and upward mobility evidently weren't enough for Ezeh, who decided to live a jet-set lifestyle at taxpayers' expense.

According to a 2023 whistleblower complaint, Ezeh used various interrelated organizations to funnel hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to herself as well as to friends and family members while serving as CEO of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative.

RELATED: Somali terror group cashing in on your tax dollars? Minnesota's child-care fraud whistleblowers warned about a decade ago.

Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

The ELNC was a nonprofit in Grand Rapids that Ezeh — who claimed in a 2022 profile that "injustice makes me cry" — founded with the purported aim of providing state "funding, advocacy, and high-quality early childhood educational services to families, children, and neighborhoods that are more 'at-risk or vulnerable.'"

The complaint filed against Ezeh indicated that she funneled funds from the ELNC with the help of the nonprofit's bookkeeper, Sharon Killebrew, who secretly paid herself nearly $1 million between June 2017 and April 2023.

Court documents reviewed by WOOD-TV indicate that Ezeh not only created nearly $500,000 in fake invoices with Killebrew but created two fake day-care businesses to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to herself and others.

Ezeh reportedly used some of the stolen taxpayer money to pay for trips to Hawaii, Liberia, and Nigeria for herself and others.

ELNC sued Ezeh and Killebrew in September 2023, but by that time, the damage was done. ELNC had to close its doors on account of the financial impact of the duo's embezzlement and fraud, which meant the loss of both 35 jobs and a source of support for numerous Michigan families.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Stiffler, the victims of the the fraud committed by Ezeh — who has been touted as a "champion for poor black and brown kids" — "were mostly children of color under the age of five years old, 72% of whom lived below the federal poverty level in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Kent County, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek."

Killebrew initially insisted she was innocent, claiming she "didn't steal anything." However, when confronted with the mountain of evidence to the contrary, she pleaded guilty in June. Killebrew was sentenced to 54 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

Like her accomplice, Ezeh initially denied her guilt but has since admitted to embezzling over $1 million.

The Nigerian fraudster's attorney, Mary Chartier, told MLive/the Grand Rapids Press, "Ms. Ezeh is committed to taking full responsibility and accountability for her actions. She is deeply remorseful to anyone who has been negatively impacted."

Amy DeLeeuw, the president of the apparently defunct nonprofit, stated that she was "disappointed by Nkechy Ezeh’s failure to meaningfully articulate the nature and scope of her criminal misconduct during her change of plea hearing today. Her theft of millions of dollars intended for the most vulnerable of children was brazen, all-encompassing, and unconscionable."

"To date, Nkechy has made no effort to repay any of the millions of dollars she stole from ELNC," continued DeLeeuw. "I trust Nkechy’s demeanor at today's hearing did not go unnoticed by Chief Judge Hala Jarbou. I and the board will have more to say in our victim impact statement and look forward to her sentencing hearing on May 13."

Ezeh has reportedly agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Early Head Start programs and other agencies that gave grants to the ELNC as well as nearly $400,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

Whitmer's office did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

Aquinas College confirmed that Ezeh retired in May 2023 and told Blaze News that the college is not in a position to comment on Ezeh's outside endeavors.

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'Without citing evidence': NYT steps on a rake trying to attack Trump administration over fraud crackdown



The Department of Health and Human Services cut off five Democrat-run states' access to over $10 billion in federal child care and family assistance funds on Tuesday, citing "serious concerns about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs."

The New York Times joined Democrats in criticizing the Trump administration's anti-fraud campaign — but bungled its execution.

The Times' Minho Kim opened his Tuesday piece with the following sentence:

The Trump administration plans to freeze $10 billion in funding for child care subsidies, social services and cash support for low-income families in five states controlled by Democrats, claiming widespread fraud throughout those states, without citing evidence, after a major welfare fraud scheme in one of them.

The sentence was later rearranged without an editor's note but without any significant alterations.

'The first response of Democrats to instances like the Minnesota fraud findings should not be to criticize the other side.'

It was not lost on critics that immediately after asserting that the administration claimed widespread fraud "without citing evidence," Kim himself proceeded to allude to the damning evidence of widespread fraud in one of the states facing the funding pause — fraud that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged on Monday when giving up on his ambition of re-election.

Drew Holden, the managing editor at American Compass, suggested that the New York Times perhaps "got so used to saying that the Trump admin did something 'without citing evidence' that they didn't realize they mention the 'evidence' in the same sentence."

RELATED: Trump administration sends Democrats into hysterics by freezing funding to 5 blue states over fraud concerns

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Later in the Times article, Kim acknowledged that the funding freeze builds on the HHS' pause of $185 million in annual childcare funds in the wake of credible allegations of massive fraud in taxpayer-subsidized day care facilities in the Gopher State.

Minnesota has been home to historic fraud committed by members of the Somali community in relation to coronavirus relief funding and allegedly in relation to taxpayer-subsidized day care facilities. The COVID scams in Minnesota have resulted in dozens of criminal convictions and scores of indictments in recent years. Government officials are working to ensure similar graft is not impacting other jurisdictions.

Following the publication of Kim's piece, American Enterprise Institute fellow Ruy Teixeira stressed that "the first response of Democrats to instances like the Minnesota fraud findings should not be to criticize the other side for attacking them and wave the bloody shirt of racism against President Trump but rather to stress the seriousness of the problem and how it will not be tolerated."

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Tim Walz's nightmare continues as HHS shuts off $185M to Minnesota amid allegedly 'fake' Somali day-care centers



Minnesota appears to be a mecca for fraudsters, particularly from the crime-ridden African nation of Somalia.

Private citizens and the Trump administration have taken steps in recent weeks to neutralize and expose the worst cases of graft in Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's back yard — including the fraud committed by members of the Somali community in relation to coronavirus relief funding and the student aid fraud plaguing the Gopher State's publicly funded schools.

YouTuber Nick Shirley, 23, has played an outsized role in this anti-fraud campaign. His Christmas week videos alleging massive fraud in taxpayer-subsidized, Somali-run day care facilities prompted the Department of Health and Human Services to announce that it was derailing the gravy train.

'Any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children.'

"We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota," HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill said in a statement on Tuesday.

In a corresponding video, O'Neill noted that "intrepid journalists have made shocking and credible allegations of extensive fraud in Minnesota's child care programs. We believe the state of Minnesota has allowed scammers and fake day cares to siphon millions of taxpayer dollars over the past decade."

Alex Adams, assistant secretary of the HHS' Administration for Children and Families, indicated that his office provides Minnesota with $185 million in childcare funds annually.

"That money should be helping 19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants," said Adams. "Any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children."

RELATED: Patel: Convicted Somali fraudsters face loss of citizenship as DHS probes Minnesota

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Shirley visited a number of ostensible childcare facilities in Minnesota that each receive millions of dollars in government backing only to find them apparently devoid of children.

In one instance, Shirley visited Mako Childcare — whose owner is listed as Ayan Salah — and the Mini Childcare Center, which are housed in the same facility and appear to be one and the same. According to Shirley's documentary, the two outfits are together licensed for 120 children and rake in roughly $3 million each year.

Shirley highlighted how the windows at the location were all blacked out, there was no outside play area, and there was no evidence of any children on or around the site. Despite signage indicating that the facility is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., the door was locked and no one responded to the doorbell.

After visiting a number of other locations with covered windows and not a single child in sight — while allegedly being tailed by Somali malcontents — Shirley paid a visit to the Quality Learing [sic] Center.

As Shirley knocked on the blacked-out door of the potentially fraudulent day care with the misspelled name, a woman warned those inside, "Don't open up!"

According to the documentary, the apparently childless, playground-free Quality Learing Center is licensed for 99 children and has received around $4 million over the past two years.

Vice President JD Vance said in response to Shirley's reporting, "This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 [Pulitzer] prizes."

'This jaw-dropping reporting is an indictment of both the national news media and feckless, dangerous office holders in Minnesota.'

In response to Shirley's videos, O'Neill indicated that all Administration for Children and Families payments moving forward will "require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence before we send money to a state."

O'Neill noted further that he and Alex Adams have identified the individuals referenced in Shirley's report and have demanded Gov. Walz undertake a "comprehensive audit of these centers," pulling information on attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations, and inspections.

In addition to pausing funding to Minnesota, requiring more in the way of information from applicants nationwide, and demanding an investigation, O'Neill noted that the HHS has launched a fraud-reporting hotline and email address.

— (@)

Vance said of the actions taken by the HHS, "Turning off payments and forcing verification before taxpayer money flows out the door is one of the most important steps we can take to end the fraud in Minnesota. But there will be many more to come."

Gov. Walz suggested the HHS' firm response to credible allegations of widespread childcare fraud on his watch was somehow a nefarious plot on the part of President Donald Trump.

"This is Trump's long game," said the failed Democratic vice presidential candidate whose trouble telling the truth dogged him on the campaign trail last year. "We've spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It's a serious issue — but this has been his plan all along. He's politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans."

Walz was thoroughly mocked and criticized online over his desperate attempt to shift blame onto Trump.

Zerohedge, for instance, quipped, "Brilliant execution by Trump's sleeper Somali cell."

Minnesota state Rep. Harry Niska (R) wrote, "Take some accountability. Your failure is no one’s fault but your own. Minnesota deserves better than this embarrassment."

Shirley's documentary not only prompted action by the HHS but by others in the federal government.

"This jaw-dropping reporting is an indictment of both the national news media and feckless, dangerous office holders in Minnesota like Tim Walz, who have allowed these massive fraud schemes to occur for years. NO MORE," tweeted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Johnson added that the House Oversight Committee "has expanded its investigation into these schemes. Republicans have demanded data from Gov. Walz, AG [Keith] Ellison, the Treasury Department, and the Justice Department, and have requested interviews with several key officials in Minnesota who have allowed, or participated in this fraud."

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated that Homeland Security Investigations was also looking into the matter, sharing a video of HSI officers visiting day care operations.

— (@)

Director Kash Patel said that the FBI was aware of the reports in the Gopher State and that "fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide."

Patel noted further that the fraud confirmed in the state to date "is just the tip of a very large iceberg," adding that many of those responsible "are also being referred to immigrations officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible."

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Prominent BLM activist behind iconoclastic rally jailed for defrauding donors to fund her lavish lifestyle



A prominent BLM activist who helped organized a British statue-toppling protest in 2020 has been sentenced to over two years in jail for defrauding donors.

Xahra Saleem, 23, set up a GoFundMe campaign ahead of an iconoclastic Bristol rally, begging strangers for the equivalent of a few hundred dollars to help purchase personal protective equipment to ensure that the mob — that would ultimately go on to illegally tear down the statue of Edward Colston and throw it into the harbor on June 7 — was properly masked. Owing to the publicity around the protest, the fundraising campaign was a huge success, bringing in nearly $40,000.

The BBC reported that it was made abundantly clear to donors that the excess funds raised would go to Changing Your Mindset Ltd., a now-defunct youth-based charity that had appointed Saleem its director. However, rather than have this money go to help British youths, Saleem transferred the cash to her personal bank accounts and burned through it between June 2020 and September 2021.

Judge Michael Longman told Saleem that whereas the charity the funds were intended for was a "worthwhile cause," she instead frittered away the funds on herself for a lifestyle she "could not otherwise have afforded."

Among the 2,512 payments she made, drawing on donors' funds, Saleem bought an iPhone, an iMac, and luxury clothing. She also treated herself to hair and beauty treatments, various Amazon purchases, takeout, and over $7,000 in Uber rides.

When it seemed the funds and fun were coming to an end, Saleem admitted to a friend over WhatsApp that she had done "something horrendous," reported the Independent.

Members of the organization issued an ultimatum in June 2021, demanding that Saleem transfer the funds. In response, Saleem admitted to blowing the dough, but suggested her undiagnosed psychosis was to blame, writing, "I am so sorry, I am still trying to understand my actions as well."

Saleem's fraud and deceit resulted in a cancellation of a once-in-a-lifetime educational trip to Africa and finally the closure of Changing Your Mindset.

"We were led on a journey of deceit which was full of lies and left us having to clear our own names and stop the group sessions," the organization told the Independent.

Longman emphasized to Saleem, "Your dishonest behavior continued for a substantial amount of time. There were a large number of victims. You must have realized how much your behavior would affect so many people," reported National Review.

Prominent activists in the BLM movement appear to have a tendency to grossly benefit from their supposed philanthropy on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 2021, Tyree Conyers-Page was hit with three counts of money laundering and one count of wire fraud for allegedly creating a "Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta" Facebook page and using it to defraud donors out of $450,000. His trial has been delayed until April 2024.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith said, "Page allegedly purchased homes, traveled, and spent other people's money to buy luxury items for himself, all on the backs of hardworking people believing they were donating to a worthy cause. The FBI will continue efforts to root out fraudsters who victimize our fellow citizens for personal gain."

Following the alleged fraudster's arrest, GoFundMe indicated it would refund donations.

Blaze News previously reported that BLM activists Monica Cannon-Grant and her husband, Clark Grant, were charged with 18 federal counts in connection to their nonprofit organization, Violence in Boston. They allegedly raised over $1 million but spent a significant portion on themselves. Among the alleged expenditures were personal travel and hotel reservations, nail salon appointments, and nights out.

WPDE-TV reported in May that federal tax filings from 2020 to 2022 revealed only $30 million of the $90 million Black Lives Matter raised went to other charitable organizations. $22 million went to expenses. $1.6 million went to BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors' father for security service. $2.1 million went to BLM board member Shalomyah Bowers for consulting.

Following reports that BLM co-founders Cullors, Alicia Graza, and Melina Abudullah treated themselves to a $6 million mansion in Southern California with donation money, activists filed suit, alleging this purchase and other expenditures amounted to fraud. Their suit was dismissed in June by a judge who concluded their "complaint fails to sufficiently allege the how, when, where, to whom, and by what means" misrepresentations were tendered.

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