On August 12, 2026, Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Department of Justice announced that 11 individuals have been charged with conspiring, over the course of a decade or more, to put together over a thousand sham marriages in order to fraudulently obtain legal immigration status for foreign nationals, with the vast majority coming from the People’s Republic of China.
And this was a costly service, with some of those seeking immigration status in the United States forking over $100,000 per sham marriage, the indictment, which was unsealed for the public, revealed. “This Department of Justice is rooting out fraud everywhere — including in our immigration system,” Blanche said during a press conference announcing the bust.
“This is one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States history. This scheme was not a quick fly-by-night operation, but rather a years-long, multi-million-dollar cottage industry to criminally assist people who would not or legally could not otherwise become citizens of the United States,” Blanche told members of the press.
Blanche then revealed that the individuals who concocted the scheme were mostly naturalized U.S. citizens from China, with one person being a green card holder. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is working alongside our partners at DHS to secure the border and protect American communities –something that was ignored during the last administration,” Blanche said.
He then explained that not only is the Trump administration working to protect the physical borders of the country, but to protect the nation from immigration fraud schemes designed to skirt U.S. law. “These facilitators employed attorneys, tax preparers, and marriage officiants. Some of the other charged defendants acted as recruiters by finding and recruiting United States citizens to participate in the scheme, and other defendants acted as officiants, officiating dozens of these alleged fake marriages,” said Blanche.
The attorney general then explained how the sham marriage scheme worked. “Now, the way that this scheme allegedly worked is the facilitators used social media and other forms of advertising to market fraudulent immigration services to foreign nationals, primarily from China, and Chinese nationals would pay these facilitators as much as $100,000 for assistance in obtaining a marriage, which then allowed them to apply for a green card,” he said.
“The facilitators also paid willing U.S. citizens as much as $30,000 to engage in the sham marriage with the foreign national. Now, often after these phony ceremonies, defendants would stage images of families at restaurants to create the appearance of a legitimate wedding, and some of the defendants also facilitated sham marriages overseas in China,” his explanation continued.
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Blanche then said that after the marriages took place, that is, the actual ceremonies, the couples would pay a visit to a local office that was affiliated with the scheme and sign a bunch of forms to start the process of getting legal status. “After the marriages took place, the actual ceremony: the then married couples would visit a local office affiliated with the scheme, sign forms for submission to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, learn about the U.S.C.I.S. interview process to apply for a green card, and then execute prenuptial agreements,” he said.
“Which, not surprisingly, given the allegation these were sham marriages, waived their rights to share in the other’s estate upon death, child support, and other claims in marital property,” Blanche stated during the press briefing. He then shared a quote from one of the prenuptial agreements as an example to support his claim.
“Except in the name of husband and wife, both parties live independently and must not interfere with each other,” the quote read. Blanche then wrapped up by saying, “The facilitators of the scheme would then prepare and submit fraudulent green card applications and work with the couples through the immigration process, submitting photographs, opening joint bank accounts, mobile phone accounts, all to obtain green cards to allow them to stay in this country, but that’s illegal.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video