Addressing a press conference at the consulate after the arrest by the Chennai police of a small-time actress along with two others on the basis of a complaint from the consulate, US Consul-General David C Hopper said “all who participated in this scheme – the fraudulent applicants, the film industry figures who assisted them, and the visa brokers or consultants who devised the scheme and produced and sold the false documents – have violated American law and all face life-time bars from ever receiving a US visa or travelling to the US”.

He said: “The film figures, even though they themselves may actually have qualified for visas and did not intend to live or work illegally in the US, are equally guilty as the others. They perpetrated fraud and assisted in people smuggling.”

He said the bogus visa applicants “lied to us” about their association with film personalities. “We do not believe, they (film personalities) could have been misled into sponsoring these people by visa ‘consultants’. They are equally guilty as the applicants or consultants who had perpetrated the fraud”. The scheme, he said, was first detected in May 2007 when a visa applicant admitted to paying Rs 5 lakh to a “consultant” for false documentation and for a known, genuine film industry figure to apply for a visa along with him.

The applicant claimed he was a producer who wished to accompany the known actor to the US to scout film locations there.

 He said “so far we have identified 200 applicants who participated in this or similar schemes”.
Some of those applicants had received visas. “The visas of those who are in India have been revoked by the consulate. Details of the others have been passed to law enforcement authorities in the US.” Mr Hopper refused to divulge the identities of film personalities involved on the ground that US laws barred disclosers of names of visa applicants.

The scam came to light when the city police arrested mall-time Mumbai actress Shiny along with broker Venkat Reddy and Srilatha from Hyderabad.

Police said Srilatha tried to use the actress through the broker to go to the US. Film actor and president of the South Indian Artistes Association Sarath Kumar said: “If any of our members have been found to be part of this racket, we will remove them from our rolls.”