A high-ranking UN official with a Ph.D. in economics was charged Tuesday with being a deadbeat boss — and then lying to the federal government about it.
Hamidur Rashid, UN chief of global economic monitoring, was charged with visa fraud and three other counts tied to allegations that he tricked the United Nations and the State Department into granting him a special visa for a domestic worker he brought to the city from his native Bangladesh in 2013.
As a UN employee, Rashid had access to a special visa for the woman — as long as he paid her the prevailing wage, which in New York is $9.63 an hour.
In applying for the visa, Rashid told the government that he would adhere to the wage rules, but once the woman arrived in the Big Apple, where Rashid lives with his wife and kids, he paid her only $3.49 an hour, Manhattan federal prosecutors said.
The Columbia University graduate also took her passport and threatened her with jail if she went to work for someone else, the feds allege.
Rashid deposited money in a “sham bank account” to give the impression that he was paying the woman the legal wage, but he and his wife used the account themselves, the feds said.
Rashid was released on a $250,000 bond secured by property. His lawyer didn’t return a request for comment.
