Singh, a state employee, worked on a project to automate the appeals process used by the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission. United Software Group, a suburban Columbus company headed by Vallabhaneni, was a contractor on the project with Singh.
The automation project was funded with a $3 million federal grant.
According to the nine-count federal indictment, Vallabhaneni and Singh allegedly told West Virginia officials that Singh was part of United Software Group and did not disclose that Singh was an employee of the state of Ohio. They allegedly pitched the automation program to West Virginia as their own project.
Ultimately, West Virginia didn’t go forward with the project due to budget issues.
The case was investigated jointly by the FBI, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Justice and the Ohio Inspector General.
Singh and Vallabhaneni are charged with seven counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and Singh faces one count of destruction, alteration or falsification of records. Each crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Ultimately, the State of West Virginia declined to allocate the nearly $1 million bid for the automation program from Singh and Vallabhaneni for budgetary reasons.
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