WASHINGTON — The United States Department of Justice has charged 11 people over an alleged decade-long immigration fraud scheme involving more than 1,000 sham marriages arranged to help foreign nationals, primarily Chinese citizens, obtain legal immigration status.
The Justice Department announced the charges on Thursday day, saying the alleged operation was a multimillion-dollar enterprise that paired Chinese nationals with U.S. citizens in fraudulent marriages before submitting applications for green cards.
According to the DOJ, some participants allegedly paid as much as $100,000 for a sham marriage, while U.S. citizens were offered money to participate in the arrangements. Prosecutors said the scheme operated for more than a decade and extended across multiple U.S. states.
Attorney General Todd Blanche described the case as one of the largest marriage-fraud prosecutions in U.S. history.
“This scheme was not a quick fly-by-night operation,” Blanche said, describing it as a years-long, multimillion-dollar operation designed to help people who otherwise could not legally obtain U.S. immigration status.
Prosecutors allege that those involved went beyond arranging fraudulent marriages, helping participants create documents and other evidence intended to make the relationships appear genuine to immigration authorities.
The indictment, according to the Justice Department, charges the 11 defendants with conspiracy-related offenses arising from the alleged marriage and immigration fraud scheme.
The operation was primarily based in New York but allegedly involved activities in several other states. Authorities said the case involved a network of recruiters and other individuals who helped arrange the marriages and facilitate immigration applications.
The arrests form part of a broader effort by U.S. authorities to crack down on immigration fraud and the exploitation of the country’s legal immigration system.
Fox News first reported the development, while the details of the charges were also confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice and reported by the Associated Press and Reuters.
The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
