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2 indicted over alleged CW1 scheme plead not guilty
The two owners of a company have entered a not guilty plea to the allegations that they engaged in fraud in the applications for CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program (CW1) permits.
At a hearing Thursday afternoon, Mizanur Khan, president and part owner of K.C.A. Corp., pleaded not guilty to four counts of fraud and misuse of visas and permits and two counts of mail fraud.
At a hearing Thursday morning, Kosuke Tomokiyo, vice president and part owner of K.C.A. Corp., pleaded not guilty to one count of fraud and misuse of visas and permits.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted Khan’s not guilty plea, while U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy accepted Tomokiyo’s not guilty plea.
The jury trial for Khan and Tomokiyo will on Sept. 5 at 10am.
Colin Thompson, the court-appointed counsel for Khan, asked the court to follow the U.S. Probation Office’s earlier recommendation, which was release with location monitoring and a curfew from 6pm to 6am.
After hearing from the prosecution and defense, Manglona denied assistant U.S. attorney Eric O’Malley’s motion to detain Khan pending trial.
Manglona ordered that Khan be released on his own personal recognizance and required him to observe a 6pm to 6am curfew.
Manglona earlier ordered that Tomokiyo shall remain at liberty under his own personal recognizance.
According to the indictment, on Aug. 5, 2015, Khan falsely represented to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that Kawsar Hamid, Monir Hossain, and Md. Abul Hossen, would be employed by K.C.A. as an “operation service worker (charcoal maker)” and that they would be employed in that capacity for 40 hours per week, for a period of one year.
On Aug. 22, 2016, Khan and Tomokiyo allegedly falsely represented to USCIS that Tomokiyo had previously been and was to be employed by K.C.A. as a “sales manager,” and that Tomokiyo had been employed in that capacity since January 2016.
On June 6, 2015 and Aug. 22, 2016, Khan, for the purpose of executing the scheme allegedly delivered by the U.S. Postal Services and commercial interstate carrier DHL, respectively, several I-129CW petitions.
