Woodridge man sentenced for staging robberies in country-wide visa scheme, including Chicago

A Chicago-area man will serve two years in a federal prison for staging hundreds of fake robberies to help applicants apply for U.S. immigration visas for crime victims, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, announced on Friday.

Parth Nayi, 29, of Woodridge, Illinois, pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to commit visa fraud.  

According to prosecutors, Nayi was the main organizer and participated in hundreds of staged armed robberies from 2022 to 2024.

The fake robberies occurred at coffee shops, restaurants, liquor stores and gas stations throughout the country — including in Chicago, Lombard, Elmwood Park, St. Charles, Hickory Hills, River Grove, Lake Villa and South Holland, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that Nayi worked with others to recruit fake victims, pay off store owners to use their locations, coordinate and pay fake robbers and coach the alleged victims through the plan. 

They said thousands of the alleged victims paid Nayi $5,000 to $30,000 to participate in the scam to later apply for nonimmigrant U visas — set aside for foreign nationals who are victims of certain crimes and could help law enforcement with investigations. 

After receiving the certification, the alleged victims then submitted fraudulent U visa applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services predicated upon their alleged status as robbery victims, according to prosecutors. 

Nayi was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Thursday and fined $50,000.

Five other people were also convicted as part of the federal investigation.