11 Charged in Alleged Scheme of 1,000 Sham Marriages
A federal indictment in New York's Southern District alleges Chinese nationals paid as much as $100,000 for arranged marriages to U.S. citizens to obtain green cards.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Wednesday unveiled criminal charges against 11 people over what prosecutors called an "extensive marriage fraud scheme" involving more than 1,000 "sham marriages" between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens.
The 21-page indictment, secured in New York's Southern District, alleges the scheme ran from 2016 to 2026 and was facilitated by defendants Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan and Gang Zheng. The marriages were arranged to help Chinese nationals obtain green cards, according to the indictment.
The defendants "used word of mouth, social media, and various forms of advertising to market fraudulent immigration services to foreign nationals — primarily citizens of the People's Republic of China — including their ability to arrange sham marriages to facilitate fraudulent applications for lawful permanent resident status in the United States," the indictment says.
Foreign nationals paid facilitators as much as roughly $100,000 for help obtaining a sham marriage and applying for a green card, prosecutors allege. Facilitators, in turn, allegedly earned a commission of about $5,000 per arrangement.
The indictment includes photographs of what prosecutors describe as staged wedding ceremonies that the defendants submitted to U.S. immigration officials.
"In some cases, these sham wedding ceremonies were held at nearby restaurants, where the foreign nationals and United States citizens changed into traditional Chinese wedding attire, and the facilitator, recruiter, foreign national, and United States citizen invited friends and family to create the appearance of a legitimate wedding," the indictment says.
While many of the recruiters operated in New York, prosecutors allege the marriages were orchestrated across the United States and abroad, including in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, as well as in Vanuatu and the People's Republic of China.
The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are convicted.
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