On Wednesday, February 4th, the Central Florida prosecutor announced that 11 individuals, including Chinese citizens, have been charged with “conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and bribery” for allegedly recruiting active duty U.S. military personnel for sham marriages.
The 11 defendants are facing charges related to marriage fraud conspiracy, marriage fraud, and conspiracy to commit bribery, with a maximum sentence of 5 years for each offense.
This cross-state marriage fraud and bribery network, centered around U.S. military personnel and Chinese immigrants, spanned across Florida, New York, Connecticut, and Nevada. They are accused of attempting to recruit American soldiers to enter into fake marriages with Chinese citizens to help them obtain permanent residency (green cards) illegally since 2024.
To create the illusion of a “genuine marriage,” the defendants arranged for staged photos of the couples, cohabitation evidence, and other documentation, which would be used during immigration interviews or document reviews.
The operation involved a three-phase payment model: the American spouse would receive an initial cash payment at the time of marriage, a second payment upon the foreign spouse obtaining legal immigrant status, and a final payment after the completion of the divorce process.
The indictment also revealed that some of the defendants allegedly conspired to bribe military personnel in an attempt to obtain “authentic but unauthorized” Department of Defense identification cards and access badges to military bases.
Former U.S. Navy sailors Raymond Zumba, Brinio Urena, Morgan Chambers, and Jacinth Bailey, who were involved in the sham marriages, have already pleaded guilty. Their sentencing hearings have not been held yet.
Many of the related defendants have either been charged or have pleaded guilty in connection with the case, but they are presumed innocent until formally convicted by the court.
According to the indictment, in January 2025, an informant reported to law enforcement that Navy Reserve sailor Zumba was trying to bribe the informant and their spouse.
The informant’s spouse worked in the personnel department at NAS Jacksonville, a Navy air station in Florida, responsible for issuing Department of Defense identification cards.
The informant stated that Zumba asked if their spouse would be willing to accept under-the-table payments and issued authentic but unauthorized identification cards.
At the direction of federal agents, the informant and Zumba engaged in a series of communications where they discussed Zumba’s plan to exchange cash for illegal identification documents.
On February 13, 2025, Zumba drove from New York to Jacksonville with Anny Chen, Hailing Feng, and Kin Man Cheok. Zumba brought them to NAS Jacksonville, where the informant’s spouse let them into the personnel office after hours and initiated the processing of identification documents for Anny Chen and Kin Man Cheok.
The following day, Zumba met with the informant, who handed over the two identification cards for a price of $3,500. Zumba was then arrested, and the identification cards were recovered.