[International] US Indicts 11 in Alleged Marriage Fraud Scheme to Help Chinese Nationals Obtain Green Cards
RtiTalk 小編10d ago
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on the 12th that 11 individuals have been criminally indicted, accused of participating in a "large-scale marriage fraud scheme" that arranged over 1,000 sham marriages between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens.
CBS News reported that a 21-page indictment obtained from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York states that the marriage fraud scheme ran from 2016 to 2026 and was coordinated by defendants Amy Cheng (phonetic), Xiao Mei Chan (phonetic), and Gang Zheng (phonetic), among others.
At a press conference announcing the indictments, U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche stated that this case is "one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history."
He said, "This scheme was not a brief, spur-of-the-moment operation, but rather a years-long, multi-million dollar industry designed to unlawfully assist those who could not or would not otherwise become U.S. citizens."
According to the indictment, the sham marriages were arranged to help Chinese nationals obtain U.S. green cards.
The indictment states that the defendants "marketed fraudulent immigration services to foreign nationals through word-of-mouth, social media, and various advertisements," with the primary clients being citizens of the People's Republic of China, promising to arrange sham marriages to help them submit fraudulent applications for U.S. lawful permanent resident status.
According to the indictment, foreign nationals paid up to $100,000 to intermediaries for sham marriages and green card applications, while the intermediaries arranging the marriages allegedly pocketed commissions of about $5,000.
The indictment also includes photos of alleged sham wedding ceremonies. Prosecutors stated that the defendants submitted these photos to U.S. immigration officials.
The indictment states, "Some of the sham wedding ceremonies were held in nearby restaurants, where foreign nationals and U.S. citizens changed into traditional Chinese wedding attire, and coordinators, recruiters, foreign nationals, and U.S. citizens invited friends and family to attend, creating the illusion of a genuine wedding."
While many recruiters operated in New York, the indictment alleges that the marriages they arranged spanned across the United States and overseas, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Vanuatu, and the People's Republic of China. (Editor: Liu Xiang-hua)
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=225930
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