The Trump Justice Department announced that 11 defendants have been charged in a sprawling, decade-long scheme that allegedly arranged more than 1,000 sham marriages, primarily between Chinese nationals and American citizens, to fraudulently obtain green cards.
Ten defendants were arrested Wednesday morning, according to the Justice Department. The eleventh was charged in the same two-count federal indictment.
Attorney General Todd Blanche called the alleged operation a “deliberate affront to the United States and our laws” and vowed that immigration fraud would not be tolerated under the Trump administration.
“This Department of Justice is rooting out fraud everywhere — including in our immigration system,” Blanche declared. “The individuals who were arrested today allegedly orchestrated elaborate schemes to illegally obtain citizenship for foreign nationals through sham marriages. Schemes like this are a deliberate affront to the United States and our laws and will not be tolerated under the Trump Administration.”
According to the indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York, the network operated from at least 2016 through July 2026. Chinese nationals paid facilitators as much as $100,000 each to be paired with willing U.S. citizens.
The American “spouses” received up to $30,000, often in installments tied to milestones in the green card process. Recruiters pocketed commissions around $5,000 per match.
Prosecutors say the defendants ran a full-service fraud machine: facilitators who identified Chinese customers, recruiters who hunted for Americans willing to play along, assistants who prepared the fraudulent immigration paperwork, and even officiants who staged the fake ceremonies. Sham weddings were arranged across the country — Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida — and even overseas in China and Vanuatu.
Couples often met for the first time right before getting the marriage license. They staged photos, opened joint bank accounts, filed joint tax returns, and signed prenups that explicitly waived any real marital rights, because everyone involved knew it was a total farce. Those staged photos and manufactured “evidence” were then submitted to USCIS to make the marriages look legitimate.
Sigrid Cetino (left), Anthony Cheng (center), and a foreign national (right) in a sham marriage ceremony on or about Dec. 17, 2024. From the indictment. (DOJ)
A foreign national (left), Anthony Cheng (center), and Erika Johnson (right) in a sham marriage ceremony on or about Jan. 15, 2025. From the indictment. (DOJ)
Photo from a sham wedding banquet, from the indictment. (DOJ)
The 11 charged include:
Amy Cheng (aka “Amy Zhou”), 72, of Brooklyn
Xiao Mei Chan (aka “Carmen”), 64, of Queens
Christine Lu (aka “Lily”), 52, of Queens
Jing Yan Ye (aka “Serene”), 43, of Staten Island
Xiao Yan Chen (aka “Anna”), 48, of Brooklyn
Gang Zheng (aka “Michael”/“Mike”), 61, of Queens
Anthony Cheng, 47, of Staten Island
Michelle Duenas, 35, of Staten Island
Angela Duenas, 26, of Staten Island
Sigrid Cetino, 32, of Peekskill
Erika Johnson, 43, of Ossining
Most are naturalized U.S. citizens from China. One is a green card holder.
Blanche called it “one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States history” and described the operation as a “years-long, multimillion-dollar cottage industry” designed to help people who could not legally become Americans cheat their way in.
WATCH:
🚨 BREAKING: Attorney General Todd Blanche just announced the ARRESTS of 11 “naturalized” US citizens from China who arranged over 1,000 SHAM MARRIAGES between Chinese nationals and Americans
De-naturalize EVERY SINGLE ONE of them
“This is one of the largest marriage fraud… pic.twitter.com/pamAdhY0f2
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 12, 2026
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