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Indian national pleads guilty to naturalization and passport fraud
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.
Representative image / (Photo: iStock)
An Indian national in the United States has pleaded guilty to procuring citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison.
Jaiprakash Gulvady (51) from Land O’Lakes was convicted of misusing evidence of citizenship or naturalization, making false statements in a passport application and using a passport secured by false statements, US Attorney Roger B Handberg announced.
As per the statement from the Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida Gulvady’s conviction under the case has also resulted in the automatic revocation of his US citizenship. "A sentencing date has not yet been set," the statement said.
According to the court documents, Gulvady moved to the US in 2001 on a temporary business visa. In August 2018, two weeks after divorcing his wife, a US citizen, he had married another US citizen. "Based on that marriage, Gulvady was able to adjust status and became a lawful permanent resident in June 2009," the US Attorney's Office statement read.
In August 2009, Gulvady traveled to India for the first time since he had arrived in 2001. While in India, he married an Indian woman before returning back to the US. On a subsequent visit to India, Gulvady and his Indian spouse conceived their first and only child, who was born in January 2011.
Gulvady’s marriage to his US citizen wife was dissolved in August 2013. The following year, Gulvady filed an application for naturalization in which he falsely stated under penalty of perjury that he was not currently married; that he did not have any children; and that he had never been married to more than one person at the same time.
On becoming a naturalized US citizen in August 2014, Gulvady applied for a US passport, in which he falsely omitted his Indian spouse. The Department of State issued Gulvady a US passport, with which he re-entered the country on at least three occasions.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Risha Asokan.
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