Fraudsters Facilitated Hundreds Of Green Card Marriages For Chinese Nationals

The Department of Justice charged 11 people in a massive immigration fraud scheme that authorities say facilitated roughly 1,000 sham marriages, mainly between Chinese nationals and American citizens seeking to help them obtain legal immigration status.

Ten out of the 11 defendants in the case were arrested Wednesday morning for their roles in orchestrating the fraudulent marriages between 2016 and July 2026, the Justice Department said. According to prosecutors, the group created a multimillion-dollar network that operated in New York City, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Vanuatu, and China.

Attorney General Todd Blanche described the case Wednesday as one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history, saying it exposes “how far these people will go to cheat our immigration system.”

“Gaining American citizenship and legal status to reside in this great nation is a sacred privilege, and we will ensure it is always done in accordance with the law protecting our communities and national security,” he said. “These schemes have real costs. They rob our country of its ability to know who should be and should not be allowed in America.”

Prosecutors say the defendants built a network involving attorneys, tax preparers, and wedding officiants to help foreign nationals obtain green cards before later assisting the couples with divorces.

The scheme charged foreign nationals as much as $100,000 for its services while paying U.S. citizens as much as $30,000 to marry them, according to the Justice Department. Recruiters allegedly used social media posts advertising immigration services to lure clients while tracking down Americans willing to participate in the marriages.

After arranging the ceremonies, the accused staged family photos “to create the appearance of a legitimate wedding,” Blanche said.

The photos, along with joint accounts the group helped the couples open, were used in their green card applications.

The operation extended overseas, including to China, where an office tied to the scheme assisted with U.S. immigration paperwork and prenuptial agreements. In one instance, a prenuptial agreement stated that the couple lived separately “and must not interfere with each other,” Blanche said.

The Justice Department has directed federal prosecutors to prioritize denaturalization cases against naturalized citizens who obtained their citizenship through fraud, Blanche said. More than 120 such complaints have been filed since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

“Not only are we protecting our physical borders from unlawful crossings, but we’re also preventing immigration fraud schemes that are just another way to skirt the immigration laws of the United States,” Blanche said.

“Our efforts to protect our immigration system and our country’s borders are aggressive and exhaustive. No matter how complicated the scam, we will do everything in our power to stop it,” he said.

Federal authorities charged Amy Cheng, 72, of Brooklyn, New York, Xiao Mei Chan, 64, of Queens, New York, Christine Lu, 52, of Queens, New York, Jing Yan Ye, 43, of Staten Island, New York, Xiao Yan Chen, 48, of Brooklyn, New York, Gang Zheng, 61, of Queens, New York, Anthony Cheng, 47, of Staten Island, New York, Michelle Duenas, 35, of Staten Island, New York, Angela Duenas, 26, of Staten Island, New York, Sigrid Cetino, 32, of Peekskill, New York, and Erika Johnson, 43, of Ossining, New York.

Each defendant faces one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud, which could lead to a maximum sentence of five years behind bars, and one count of conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of aliens in the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.