A former manager at Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of unfair dismissal after he refused to sign off on claims he believed were false—claims that were allegedly used to help a Chinese employee obtain a green card.
The August 17 lawsuit, filed in New Jersey by lawyer Constantine Bardis on behalf of James Tillinghast, alleges Meta retaliated against Tillinghast after he objected to a letter containing “factual assertions that he reasonably believed were materially inaccurate.” The letter, according to the suit, was intended to support an I-140 National Interest Waiver petition for Shenxun Wang, an employee who worked within Tillinghast’s unit.
Tillinghast is seeking more than $1 million in damages—including $565,000 in lost pay and $490,000 in lost equity—plus punitive damages and a jury trial. The lawsuit does not specify whether Wang held an H-1B visa, though his LinkedIn profile indicates he did, as noted by the suit and reported by HRDive, which first revealed the case on August 19.
Breitbart News has reached out to Meta for comment on the allegations, which have yet to be tested in court.
Refusing to Sign
According to the lawsuit, Meta and its outside immigration law firm coordinated an EB-2 National Interest Waiver petition for Wang in April or May 2024. The firm prepared a managerial reference letter addressed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), attributing approximately $638 million in incremental advertising revenue to Wang. The letter also reportedly claimed Wang created algorithms or AI tools, which Tillinghast believed overstated Wang’s actual role, which he understood to be “principally in product design and user experience.”
“James did not possess a factual basis to attest that Wang personally generated or was properly credited with that amount,” the lawsuit states. The letter also implied Wang managed a team or cross-functional group in a way that exaggerated his position, and contained broad assertions about Wang’s “national importance” and the U.S. interest in facilitating his work.
Tillinghast said he worked with Wang to revise the letter so it contained only statements he could truthfully endorse about their working relationship and Wang’s actual duties. He removed or declined to endorse the broader national-interest portions.
The suit further alleges Tillinghast objected to Meta’s “selective use of its immigration-support process for Chinese national employees,” and that his supervisors were aware of his refusal and objections. After he declined to sign, the national-interest letter was routed to his boss, who reportedly signed a substitute letter that included representations Tillinghast had refused to endorse—including claims about Wang’s revenue impact, algorithmic work, and leadership responsibilities.
Broader Context: Hiring and Visa Fraud
The lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny of hiring practices at major U.S. tech firms. Experts and workers have told Breitbart News that ethnic hiring is widespread in the Fortune 500, with visa programs enabling managers to quietly sell jobs to co-ethnics via kickbacks, subcontract payments, and other hidden arrangements. This “black market” for white-collar jobs often leads to skilled Americans being fired to make room for foreign-born workers, according to critics.
Anthony D’Esposito, the Department of Labor’s Inspector General, told Breitbart News in July that investigators are looking into such practices. “One of the things that will probably make the American people most angry… is the fact that many of the individuals that you’re talking about that are selling these jobs, getting kickbacks,” he said. “We will clearly outline and define their relationships with—whether it’s gangs or whether it is transnational criminal organizations.”
Federal agencies are also drafting new regulations to curb fraud and encourage the hiring of American workers.
In a related development, the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump fined OpenAI $3.2 million on August 4 for failing to advertise a job it was using to help a visa worker win a green card. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division stated: “It is illegal to discriminate against U.S. workers by preferring temporary visa holders for jobs. This substantial settlement ensures that OpenAI redresses harm and changes its recruitment practices so that U.S. workers receive a fair opportunity for highly sought-after technology positions.”
Job advertisements are a required part of the PERM process, under which companies can sponsor green cards for foreign workers by publicly recruiting for the role. However, companies often rig the process by posting ads in small newspapers with limited circulation, effectively ensuring that qualified Americans never see them.
Meta’s lawyers, in this case, used an alternative route—the EB-2 National Interest Waiver—which bypasses the PERM process entirely. To qualify, companies must attest that the foreign worker is exceptionally skilled and that their hiring serves the “national importance.”
The lawsuit quotes Jeremy Bernier, a former Meta software engineer fired in early 2026, who claimed: “At Meta, 90% of my coworkers were Chinese, and non-Chinese were routinely excluded, disadvantaged, and targeted for layoffs.” He said six of the seven layoffs he observed targeted non-Chinese workers, and that certain organizations, like ads and MRS (Meta Recommendation Systems), are “notorious for being Chinese dominated.”
“I think Americans would be outraged if they knew that their own citizens were getting marginalized and laid off at their own companies, while Chinese promote themselves up, conquer entire orgs, and reap millions,” Bernier added.
The case against Meta is still pending, and the company has not yet filed a response in court. The outcome could hinge on whether Tillinghast can prove that Meta’s actions were retaliatory and that the letter he was asked to sign contained false statements, as alleged.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/08/20/lawsuit-claims-zuckerbergs-meta-used-fraud-to-seek-a-green-card-for-a-chinese-visa-worker/