Eleven people in New York have been charged in connection with a sham marriage operation that federal prosecutors say arranged more than 1,000 fake unions designed to help foreign nationals fraudulently acquire green cards in the United States.

The international enterprise operated for more than a decade and mostly involved Chinese citizens who paid as much as $100,000 per marriage, according to a two-count indictment unsealed Aug. 12.

“The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly operated a nationwide and international multimillion-dollar marriage fraud scheme, using participants to abuse United States immigration laws for their own profit,” said Jamie McDonald, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a news release announcing the charges. “Today’s arrests have dismantled a central component of one of the largest marriage fraud schemes charged in United States history. “

Each is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud and one count of conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of aliens in the U.S.  The charges carry maximum penalties of up to five and 10 years, respectively.

“As alleged, this decade-long scheme turned marriage fraud into an international business model arranging countless sham marriages and causing hundreds of fraudulent green card applications to be submitted to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services,” said John Condon, the acting executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations.

The defendants range in age from 26 to 72 and are mostly residents of the New York City area and its northern suburbs.

The network operated from at least 2016 through July 2025, according to the indictment, orchestrating fraudulent marriages between foreign nationals and U.S. citizens in states including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida in addition to China and the Melanesian nation of Vanuatu.

The scheme involved facilitators who identified foreign-national customers, recruiters who found U.S. citizens willing to participate in the ruse and assistants who prepared immigration paperwork and coordinated submission of fraudulent green card applications, the indictment said.

The operation also relied on marriage officiants, attorneys, tax preparers and insurance providers, among others.

Foreign nationals paid facilitators up to $100,000 to arrange fake marriages and lawful residency assistance, while recruiters received commissions of up to $5,000 for each enlisted participant, according to the indictment. Participating American citizens were paid up to $30,000, generally in installments tied to milestones in the green card application process.

Hundreds of U.S. citizens were recruited into sham marriages, the indictment said, fabricating evidence to make the unions appear genuine, such as staging photographs, establishing joint financial and utility accounts, filing joint tax returns and obtaining joint insurance policies.

The defendants and their co-conspirators then prepared and submitted green card applications with materially false statements, then coached marriage participants on how to lie to immigration officers during interviews to conceal the ruse, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors believe the network collected tens of millions of dollars from foreign nationals seeking lawful permanent resident status, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

“Anyone willing to lie, cheat or steal their way to legal immigration status is a direct threat to America’s national security,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow. “USCIS will continue to expose fraud, defend the rule of law, and ensure immigration status is reserved for those who truly qualify.”