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11 charged in multi-million dollar nationwide sham marriage scheme
Eleven people are facing federal charges after authorities say they orchestrated a massive, multi-million dollar sham marriage ring designed to secure U.S. immigration status for foreign nationals.
NEW YORK - Eleven people are facing federal charges after authorities say they orchestrated a massive, multi-million dollar sham marriage ring designed to secure U.S. immigration status for foreign nationals.
What we know:
According to an indictment, the network arranged more than 1,000 fake marriages between 2016 and July 2026, charging foreign nationals up to $100,000 for a staged marriage and assistance in obtaining a Green Card.
The alleged scheme was primarily based in New York City but stretched across the United States, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida, and internationally to Vanuatu and China.
Officials say the criminal network operated like an international business, employing a web of facilitators, recruiters and assistants. The operation also relied on marriage officiants, tax preparers, attorneys and insurance providers to give the fake unions a veneer of legitimacy.
A lucrative network
By the numbers:
Foreign Nationals reportedly paid facilitators up to $100,000 for the arrangement, while U.S. citizens who agreed to participate in the fake marriages were paid up to $30,000. Their payments were generally distributed in installments tied to milestones in the Green Card process.
Meanwhile, recruiters earned up to $5,000 in commissions for every willing U.S. citizen they brought into the fold.
In total, authorities believe the ring collected tens of millions of dollars over the course of a decade.
Staged weddings, fake lives
Timeline:
In order to fool U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, officials say the network went to great lengths to manufacture evidence of genuine relationships.
Couples, who often met for the very first time just before obtaining a marriage license, would stage wedding ceremonies and banquets. Once married, participants were instructed to open joint financial and utility accounts, file joint tax returns, and purchase insurance policies.
When it came time for official USCIS interviews, assistants allegedly coached the couples on how to provide false answers and conceal the true nature of their transactional relationships.
The indictment included several photos seized as evidence, showing staged couples posing at fake wedding ceremonies and banquets.
Who are they?
Dig deeper:
Law enforcement executed search warrants at multiple New York locations, including Flushing, Queens, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn, early Wednesday morning.
The 11 suspects, ranging in age from 26 to 72, are primarily residents of New York (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Peekskill, and Ossining): Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan, Christine Lu, Jing Yan Ye, Xiao Yan Chen, Gang Zheng, Anthony Cheng, Michelle Duenas, Angela Duenas, Sigrid Cetino, and Erika Johnson.
"Today’s arrests have dismantled a central component of one of the largest marriage fraud schemes charged in United States history," said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York.
Each of the 11 suspects faces one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. They are also charged with one count of conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of aliens in the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The Source: Information from this article was provided by the Department of Justice.