11 Charged in ‘One of the Largest Marriage Fraud Prosecutions’ in U.S.

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday announced that it had charged 11 people for allegedly conspiring in a multimillion-dollar, decade-long scheme involving more than 1,000 sham marriages to obtain legal immigration status for mostly Chinese nationals.

Newly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche, in announcing the arrests and the unsealing of the indictment, described it as “one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States’ history.”

According to the unsealed indictment, foreign nationals allegedly paid a group of “facilitators” as much as $100,000 for their assistance in getting fraudulently married and applying for lawful permanent residency in the U.S.—or a green card. The facilitators paired each foreign national with a willing U.S. citizen, who was onboarded by “recruiters” and whom they usually paid up to about $30,000 to engage in the sham marriage.

Blanche added that the facilitators allegedly employed attorneys, tax preparers, and even marriage officiants.

The indictment contained photos of alleged sham marriage ceremonies that prosecutors claimed were submitted to federal authorities to support their clients’ green card applications. 

The indictment also stated that while the facilitators and the recruiters mainly operated in New York, they also orchestrated fraudulent marriages in other states, including Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Prosecutors also alleged that the facilitators oversaw marriages overseas, such as in China and Vanuatu.

Prosecutors charged the defendants with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud, which is punishable by up to five years in prison, and conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of aliens in the United States, which has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. 

Blanche said the unsealed indictment shows "how far people will go to cheat our immigration system,” and added that they will go after those who do “no matter how complicated the scam.”

The indictment follows President Donald Trump’s executive orders that attempt to limit birthright citizenship, including one that restricted “birth tourism”—or the practice of pregnant women giving birth in the U.S. solely for their child to obtain citizenship. Blanche, in the Wednesday announcement, said he has ordered authorities to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of those involved in“birth tourism” schemes. The State Department said on Wednesday it opened a task force to identify “birth tourism” practices and “take action to revoke visas of those who engage in or facilitate it.” According to the State Department, the task force has already revoked more than 600 visas of foreign nationals.

Reporting from Time contributed to this story.