Pradyumna Samal v. United States

FILED

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

JUN 1 2023

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

PRADYUMNA KUMAR SAMAL, No. 22-35098

Petitioner-Appellant, D.C. Nos. 2:21-cv-01206-JLR 2:18-cr-00214-JLR-1 v.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, MEMORANDUM*

Respondent-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington James L. Robart, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted May 12, 2023 Seattle, Washington

Before: HAWKINS, W. FLETCHER, and IKUTA, Circuit Judges.

Pradyumna Samal (“Samal”) appeals from the district court’s denial of his

28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence.

Samal directed a scheme in which his companies fraudulently obtained H-1B

work authorization for foreign-national workers and then marketed the workers to

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. client companies for short-term projects. Samal was initially charged with visa

fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a), but to…