{"id":521258,"date":"2026-08-13T07:31:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/u-s-justice-department-dismantles-alleged-network-that-turned-fake-marriages-into-a-multi-million-dollar-business\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T07:31:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:31:36","slug":"u-s-justice-department-dismantles-alleged-network-that-turned-fake-marriages-into-a-multi-million-dollar-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/international\/new-york\/u-s-justice-department-dismantles-alleged-network-that-turned-fake-marriages-into-a-multi-million-dollar-business\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Justice Department dismantles alleged network that turned fake marriages into a multi-million dollar business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>New York.-<\/strong> U.S. federal authorities charged <strong>11 people<\/strong> with being part of a structure that allegedly turned marriage fraud into an international business, organizing over approximately a decade more than <strong>1,000 sham unions<\/strong> to facilitate the acquisition of permanent residency for foreign citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The organization had its main operations center in <strong>New York<\/strong>, but had allegedly extended its activities to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida, in addition to carrying out operations related to the scheme in China and Vanuatu. The indictment maintains that the network operated at least from 2016 until July 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Department of Justice, the main clients were foreigners, mostly citizens of <strong>China<\/strong>, interested in obtaining legal immigration status in the United States through marriages with U.S. citizens who did not have a real romantic relationship with them. Some reportedly paid up to <strong>$100,000<\/strong> for the marriage and assistance during the immigration process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The alleged scheme operated through a division of tasks. Some members were in charge of locating interested foreigners, while others recruited Americans willing to marry in exchange for money. There were also people responsible for preparing documents and coordinating permanent residency applications with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Authorities state that U.S. citizens who joined the scheme could receive up to <strong>$30,000<\/strong> for participating in the sham marriages, while recruiters earned commissions that could reach <strong>$5,000<\/strong> for each person recruited. Due to the scale of the operation, investigators estimate that the group generated tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The procedure did not end with the wedding ceremony. The indictment points out that the couples fabricated evidence intended to convince the authorities that they were in an authentic relationship. To do this, they allegedly held photo sessions, opened joint bank accounts, put utility services in both names, took out insurance, and filed tax returns as a married couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some cases, the supposed spouses barely knew each other before applying for a marriage license. When USCIS summoned the couples for interviews, members of the organization allegedly prepared them to answer questions and hide that the relationship had been established exclusively for immigration purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of Justice identified among the defendants <strong>Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan, Christine Lu, Jing Yan Ye, Xiao Yan Chen, Gang Zheng, Anthony Cheng, Michelle Due\u00f1as, \u00c1ngela Due\u00f1as, Sigrid Cetino and Erika Johnson<\/strong>, all residents in different locations in New York. Ten were arrested on Wednesday and were scheduled to appear before a federal court in White Plains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers maintain that the structure managed to recruit hundreds of U.S. citizens and led to the filing of hundreds of fraudulent <strong>Green Card<\/strong> applications, becoming, according to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Southern District of New York, one of the largest marriage fraud rings charged in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each defendant faces one count of <strong>conspiracy to commit marriage and immigration fraud<\/strong>, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, as well as another for conspiracy to encourage illegal residence of aliens in the United States, which carries up to <strong>10 years in prison<\/strong> if convicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The investigation involved several federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI, and specialized USCIS units, along with Westchester County authorities. The charges constitute allegations, and the defendants maintain the presumption of innocence as the case continues in federal court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York.- U.S. federal authorities charged 11 people with being part of a structure that allegedly turned marriage fraud into an international business, organizing over approximately a decade more than 1,000 sham unions to facilitate the acquisition of permanent residency for foreign citizens. The organization had its main operations center in New York, but had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133553,"featured_media":521259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[44549],"tags":[44182,14462,41047],"class_list":["post-521258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cover","tag-fbi","tag-wedding"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2bBo","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/boda-ny.jpg","dum_api":{"author_name":"F\u00e9lix Abad","author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39a5ff177de98dc8653e5d28809b69198fa14b4bbfcdb4c999b34fe6646cd495?s=96&d=mm&r=g","categories_name":["New York"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/boda-ny.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}