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Last Updated: Apr 9, 2007 - 12:46:40 AM |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. immigration officer and his sister were among 27 people arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of running a fraudulent immigration business that arranged green cards through sham marriages.
Federal prosecutors allege they received more than $1 million by providing hundreds of green cards, or permanent residency documents, between April 2001 and November 2005 in exchange for fees ranging from $8,000 to $16,000.
Immigration officer Phillip Browne, 40, and Beverly Mozer-Browne, 49, face charges including visa fraud and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said.
Browne worked as an adjudication officer for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
According to the indictment, he would approve applications without an interview for people who either entered into sham marriages with U.S. citizens or forged documents showing a marriage to a U.S. citizen in the past.
Twenty-two people were arrested in New York, four in Florida and one in North Carolina, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
They included applicants and employees of the business based in the New York borough of Queens who helped fabricate false birth certificates and letters from purported employers and banks.
Three others who were among the 30 people indicted remained at large.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the money laundering charges and 10 years for visa fraud.
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