Suburban Chicago Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Staging Robberies To Help Others Fraudulently Apply for Immigration Visas

CHICAGO - A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for conspiring to stage armed robberies so that the purported victims could apply for U.S. immigration visas reserved for crime victims.

From 2022 to 2024, PARTH NAYI organized and participated in hundreds of staged armed robberies at coffee shops, restaurants, liquor stores, and gas stations throughout the country, including in Chicago and the suburbs of Lombard, Elmwood Park, St. Charles, Hickory Hills, River Grove, Lake Villa, and South Holland. Nayi worked with others to recruit fake victims, pay off store owners to use their locations, coordinate and pay fake robbers, and coach the bogus victims through the plan. Thousands of individuals who posed as victims each paid Nayi $5,000 to $30,000 to participate in the scam so that they could later apply for Nonimmigrant U-Visas, which are set aside for foreign nationals who are victims of certain crimes and are helpful to law enforcement in the investigation.

During the staged robberies, individuals acting as robbers brandished what appeared to be firearms, approached the purported victims, and demanded money. Afterwards, the purported victims submitted forms to local law enforcement to obtain certification that they were victims of a qualifying crime and were helpful in the investigation. Upon receiving the certification, the purported victims then submitted fraudulent U-Visa applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services predicated upon their alleged status as robbery victims.

Nayi, 29, of Woodridge, Ill., pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to commit visa fraud. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland sentenced Nayi to two years in federal prison and fined him $50,000.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Ryan Whalen, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent-in-Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago.

"Defendant was the main organizer and at the center of almost every single one of the hundreds of staged robberies that were perpetrated," Assistant U.S. Attorney Saqib Mohammad Hussain argued in the government's sentencing memorandum. "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."

Five other individuals have also been convicted as part of the federal investigation.