Suren Agadzhanov, 42, of Atlanta, was sentenced late Thursday to three years and 10 months in federal prison

Suren Agadzhanov, 42, of Atlanta, was sentenced late Thursday to three years and 10 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.In 2002, Agadzhanov began fraudulently obtaining work visas for people from eastern Europe -- primarily the Baltic republics of Latvia and Lithuania -- who had legally entered the United States and wanted to extend their stay beyond the terms of their legitimate visas. Agadzhanov charged his “clients” thousands of dollars to complete and submit false paperwork claiming the individuals would be working for one of a stable of fictitious companies Agadzhanov had established out of his home.Agadzhanov fabricated information about the job responsibilities, salary and location, as well as the companies. He would, at times, even include fake tax forms as evidence of the size and existence of the sham businesses. Agadzhanov also submitted bogus educational credentials for many of the visa-seekers. Since neither the companies nor the jobs existed, his clients, if granted work visas, would be illegally in the United States.As the federal agencies began to uncover Agadzhanov’s visa fraud scheme, his sham applications were rejected. Eventually, Agadzhanov got out of the visa fraud business and started investing the proceeds from that fraud in Atlanta residential real estate. Typically, Agadzhanov would find a property in foreclosure, buy it, and then flip the house to one of his visa clients at an inflated price. That buyer would never move in and the house would quickly fall back into foreclosure. The loan applications for both Agadzhanov’s purchases and the purchases by Agadzhanov’s phony buyers all had false information concerning the borrowers’ employment and income -- often with the same fake companies that Agadzhanov created for his visa fraud scheme.