An indictment unsealed Wednesday charges a Topeka couple and a Colorado man with taking part in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain an H-1B visa, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita.

Charged are Mahesh Kumar Gangineni, 34, of Topeka, his wife, Komali Donavalli, 34, of Topeka, and Sankar Rao Chava, 41, of Littleton, Colo.

Also named as defendants are two companies controlled by the defendants: Global Information Technology Services in Littleton, Colo., and Vaishnavi Inc. in Topeka.

According to the indictment, Gangineni and Chava created false paperwork to make it appear that Gangineni, who owned a gas station in Topeka, was doing contract work as a computer programmer for Chava’s company, Global Information Technology Services.

Relying on Gangineni’s fictitious employment with GITS, Gangineni and Chava submitted fraudulent paperwork to the government seeking an H-1B visa for Gangineni.

An H-1B visa provides workers who have specialized knowledge to reside in the United States while they are working and potentially to receive legal alien permanent residence status, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

As part of the scheme, Chava mailed what appeared to be payroll checks from Littleton, Colo., to Gangineni in Topeka. From Aug. 16, 2006, to Dec. 17, 2007, Chava sent 22 checks totaling $77,440 drawn on the accounts of his company, GITS, to Gangineni.

During the same period, Gangineni’s wife wrote checks to Chava so that Chava would continue to support the ongoing visa fraud by mailing what appeared to be payroll checks to Gangineni.

In return, Gangineni reimbursed Chava for the payroll checks by sending him checks from his company, Vaishnavi Inc. In a separate count, Gangineni and Donavalli are charged with structuring financial transactions totaling about $2 million at four Topeka banks to evade the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires transactions of $10,000 or more be reported to the federal government. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the conspiracy charge and a maximum penalty of five years and a fine up to $250,000 on the charge of structuring transactions to evade making federal reports.

Gangineni is being held in custody, and Donavalli isn’t in custody, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. No further details about their status were available Wednesday.

Chava, who was arrested in Colorado, is being held in custody in Denver until a hearing Monday to determine if he is entitled to post bond. A magistrate judge on Tuesday appointed the federal public defender’s office to represent Chava “until the defendant retains private counsel,” according to court records.

The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Labor investigated the case. Special assistant U.S. attorney Jared Maag is prosecuting.