Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The feds nabbed 11 suspects accused of operating a decade-long, multimillion-dollar marriage fraud scheme that resulted in around 1,000 sham weddings between primarily Chinese nationals and US citizens for the purpose of getting the Asians green cards. The “cottage industry” uncovered Wednesday charged foreign nationals up to $100,000 for each fake union, including submitting fraudulent applications to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of those seeking lawful permanent residency. The sham wedding ring used advertisements on social media platforms, held phony marraige ceremonies and even had both parties to the fake unions sign bizarre pre-nuptial agreements,...

Seventeen people have been accused of taking part in a scheme that paired Russian woman and U.S. Navy personnel in bogus marriages, federal prosecutors in Virginia said. All of the defendants charged in the 28-count indictment have been arrested. The indictment is the "result of our ongoing effort to crack down on allegations of sham marriages in the Navy," said U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride. The 17 indicted Wednesday are among 80 who have been charged in similar schemes, MacBride said. The Russian women charged in the scheme obtained U.S citizenship because they married U.S. citizens. The Navy personnel in...

An owner of the local Thai Ginger restaurant chain was arrested Tuesday morning and is due to appear in federal court in Seattle on various immigration-related charges for allegedly arranging “sham marriages.” In an indictment unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Varee Bradford, who operates the Thai Ginger restaurants, and Porramin Tangchaiwanna, known as “Golf,” were charged with conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Bradford was charged with several additional counts of fraud relating to immigration documents. According to the indictment, the two offered to pay employees of Thai Ginger $15,000 to $25,000 to enter into sham marriages with...