United States ex rel. Krawitt v. Infosys Techs. Ltd., Inc.

342 F. Supp. 3d 958
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedOctober 16, 2018
DocketCase No. 16-CV-04141-LHK
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 342 F. Supp. 3d 958 (United States ex rel. Krawitt v. Infosys Techs. Ltd., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States ex rel. Krawitt v. Infosys Techs. Ltd., Inc., 342 F. Supp. 3d 958 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING APPLE INC.'S MOTION TO DISMISS AND DENYING INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES, LTD.'S MOTION TO DISMISS AS MOOT

Re: Dkt. Nos. 55, 56

LUCY H. KOH, United States District Judge *960Qui Tam Plaintiff Carl Krawitt ("Krawitt") brings suit against Defendants Infosys Technologies, Ltd. ("Infosys") and Apple Inc. ("Apple") (collectively, "Defendants") under the False Claims Act. The suit alleges that the Defendants conspired to have two Indian nationals enter the United States on a business B-1 visa to provide training at Apple in violation of immigration law. Krawitt instead insists that the two trainers ought to have obtained the more expensive and numerically-capped H1-B visas before entering the United States. Defendants have filed separate motions to dismiss. Having considered the parties' submissions, the relevant law, and the record in this case, the Court GRANTS Apple's motion to dismiss, and DENIES Infosys' motion to dismiss as moot.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Infosys, based in India, is a corporation "specializing in information technology consulting, training, and outsourcing services ...." ECF 37 at ¶ 5 ("FAC"). One of Infosys' clients is Apple. Id. Infosys and Apple entered into a $50,000 contract (the "Agile Contract") for Infosys to provide Apple's Online Store Engineering Organization with 16 live training sessions in California. Id. at ¶ 12. It is alleged that during negotiations over the Agile Contract with Apple, Infosys executives "knew Infosys lacked sufficient foreign nationals on H1-B visas to legally perform the classroom training sessions at Apple." Id. at 13. The FAC further alleges that "only Indian foreign national workers on B-1 visas were available to perform services under the Agile Contract." Id. In particular, 2 Indian nationals holding B-1 visas were scheduled to be the trainers under the Agile Contract.1 Id. at ¶ 15.

On September 10, 2014, Krawitt started work at Apple as an independent contractor for Infosys. Id. He allegedly warned Infosys that the two Infosys trainers *961lacked the necessary H1-B visas to conduct the training courses. Id. Krawitt also claims that an Apple senior manager was aware that the two trainers were on B-1 visas. Id. On September 15, 2014, Krawitt drafted a project memorandum for the Agile Contract, which was later presented to Apple's managers. Id. at ¶ 16. The project memorandum contained information about the qualifications of the trainers, "thereby further informing [Apple executives] ... that Infosys intended on bringing Indian foreign nationals ... on B-1 visas as trainers/instructors under the Agile Contract." Id. at ¶ 16.

On September 24, 2014, at the request of Infosys employees, Apple provided Infosys with draft letters to the two trainers to enter the United States. Id. at ¶ 17. These letters did not mention that the trainers would conduct training sessions under the Agile Contract. Id. Rather, the letters stated that the 2 trainers would attend meetings at Apple and would not be paid. Id. The Defendants allegedly hid the fact that the two trainers were paid "in the form of continued salary benefits." Id. The draft letters were circulated and then finalized on Apple letterhead. Id. Although the FAC claimed that the letters "contained false statements and material omissions," the FAC does not specify whether the letters were ever shown to any government officials.

When Krawitt learned about the letters, he notified his immediate supervisor at Infosys on September 25, 2014 about the visa issue. Id. at ¶ 18. Around October 6, 2014, Krawitt notified another Infosys employee, Razab Chowdhury, that Infosys was violating immigration laws, and that the matter should be referred to Infosys' legal department for investigation. Id. The only action Chowdhury took was to warn other Infosys executives that Krawitt had raised the visa issue and that it could be a problem. Id. Krawitt also continued to write about the visa issue in project status updates reviewed by Apple and Infosys employees. Id.

On October 8, 2014, an Infosys employee emailed other Infosys executives that the two trainers "needed to travel back to India, and then return to the United States in order to avoid detection and suspicion for violating United States immigration laws." Id. at ¶ 19. One day later, Krawitt and Chowdhury discussed the prior Eastern District of Texas case against Infosys. Id. Chowdhury stated that if he "got caught" for manipulating visa applications, he would "pretend as if he knew nothing." Id. at ¶ 20. On the same day, Krawitt allegedly spoke with an Infosys executive "who confirmed Relator Krawitt's suspicions about Infosys's immigration visa violations." Id. at ¶ 21.

The Agile Contract training sessions proceeded with the two Indian foreign nationals as trainers, but on October 16, 2014, one of Apple's managers told Infosys he was unhappy with the training sessions. Id. at ¶ 23. Infosys thereby sent the 2 Indian trainers back to India, and the remainder of the classes under the Agile Contract was cancelled. Id. Apple, wishing to continue with further training, subsequently entered into another agreement with Infosys wherein a United States-based trainer was to deliver the remaining training sessions. Id. at ¶ 25. Krawitt accuses Apple and Infosys employees of intentionally omitting "training" from this subsequent agreement's terms. Id. at ¶ 26.

Around January 2015, Krawitt's employment at Infosys was not extended, allegedly as retaliation for whistleblowing on the B-1 visa issue. Id. at ¶ 26. In February 2015, Krawitt then began new employment at Apple as a contractor supervised by managers who were part of the Retail Online Store Engineering Management Team. Id. at ¶ 20. In October 2015, Krawitt's *962work as a contractor was not renewed. On information and belief, Krawitt alleges that Apple conducted an internal investigation into the misuse of B-1 visas, violations which took place under the guidance of one of Apple's manager who eventually quit. Id. at ¶ 32.

B. Procedural History

Krawitt's first complaint against Defendants was filed on July 22, 2016. ECF No. 1. On September 26, 2017, the government declined to intervene in the case. ECF No. 13. The First Amended Complaint ("FAC") was filed on April 16, 2018. ECF No. 37. The government has not intervened after the FAC was filed. The first complaint and the FAC contain only one cause of action: a violation of the False Claims Act ("FCA"). See ECF No. 1 at § VI; FAC at ¶¶ 56-59.

The Court entered a case management order on June 21, 2018. ECF No. 61. Infosys and Apple filed their motions to dismiss on June 15, 2018. ECF Nos. 55, 56 (respectively, "Apple Mot." and "Infosys Mot."). On August 10, 2018, Krawitt filed two oppositions in response to the motions to dismiss. ECF Nos. 68, 69 (respectively, "Apple Opp." and "Infosys Opp."). Apple's and Infosys' reply briefs were filed on September 21, 2018. ECF Nos. 73, 74 (respectively, "Apple Reply" and "Infosys Reply").

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Related

United States ex rel. Krawitt v. Infosys Techs. Ltd.
372 F. Supp. 3d 1078 (N.D. California, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
342 F. Supp. 3d 958, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-ex-rel-krawitt-v-infosys-techs-ltd-inc-cand-2018.