Feds Bust Massive Decade Long USCIS Marriage Fraud Scheme

The defendants, arrested on the morning of August 12, 2026, are expected to be arraigned later that day. The indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, charges each with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud, carrying up to five years in prison, and conspiracy to encourage unlawful residence, carrying up to ten years.

According to the indictment, the network operated from at least 2016 through July 2026, based in New York City but spanning multiple states and countries, including China and Vanuatu. Facilitators charged foreign nationals up to $100,000 per sham marriage, paid U.S. citizen participants up to $30,000, and gave recruiters commissions of up to $5,000 per citizen recruited.

The scheme involved pairing foreign nationals with U.S. citizens who often met for the first time just before obtaining a marriage license. The organizers arranged sham wedding ceremonies, staged photos, and coached participants to lie during USCIS interviews. They also manufactured evidence such as joint bank accounts, tax returns, and insurance policies to make the marriages appear genuine.

The defendants allegedly submitted hundreds of fraudulent green card applications and collected tens of millions of dollars over the scheme's duration. Search warrants were executed in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens, at the time of the arrests.

The investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, USCIS's Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the Westchester County District Attorney's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jake Sidransky and Reyhan Watson are prosecuting the case.