11 charged in “marriage fraud” scheme for allegedly paying U.S. service members to wed Chinese nationals

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 11 people in an alleged “marriage fraud” ring, accusing them of setting up sham weddings for immigration purposes. An indictment unsealed Wednesday in Florida accuses the suspects of engaging in a conspiracy to recruit Americans, preferably U.S. service members, for marriages with Chinese nationals.

Prosecutors accuse Anny Chen, 54, who lives in New York, and another conspirator of recruiting U.S. Navy service member Raymond Zumba to marry a Chinese national, Sha Xie, 38. The court documents say the pair wed in Brooklyn in April 2024, with others attending a party and taking photos at the event. Prosecutors said the photos were included in immigration paperwork to convince authorities that the marriage was real. 

Prosecutors said Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen from China, paid Zumba $10,000 in cash at the wedding for agreeing to the marriage. Zumba was then allegedly persuaded to act as a recruiter for other Navy cadets to enter into sham marriages with Chinese nationals, according to the indictment. 

But Chen and Zumba, along with other conspirators, took it one step further, prosecutors said, by trying to obtaining military identification cards for the new spouses.

A “sham marriage” with possible military benefits

Once Zumba agreed to help Chen recruit Navy cadets, marriages started to move quickly, prosecutors allege. Conspirators are accused of taking part in such weddings in Jacksonville, Florida; New York, Connecticut and Nevada.

According to prosecutors, recruiters promised a cash payment up front, a second payment after the spouse obtained legal immigration status, and a final payment after the couple divorced. 

Several marriages occurred from March 2024 until Feb. 8, 2025, when court documents say Zumba tried to recruit someone still in the Navy. He allegedly told the source that couples can get paid up to $35,000 for a sham marriage, with $10,000 paid up front. He also spoke to the source about obtaining military identification cards for the newly-married spouses, which would allow them possible access to the military installations, commissaries and recreation. 

The Navy member was married, and his wife worked in the personnel office at Naval Air Station Jacksonville that issued the cards. According to the indictment, Zumba said the cards would be for unspecified individuals from China and that he could pay up to $1,500 per card. During a series of conversations, court documents said, he worked to entice the source to agree to provide the cards by letting him know that the Chinese nationals paid for his travel to Las Vegas and a possible upcoming trip to Miami.

He then increased the price for the cards to $3,500, according to a criminal complaint filed in his case. 

“I can go to any military base at any time with this card,” Chen allegedly wrote in a text message to Zumba during a discussion about obtaining the cards, adding that she could obtain free medical care and shop on base. 

The source went to law enforcement with the information, and law enforcement worked with the Navy member to set up a transaction. 

The source arranged to meet Zumba, Chen and others in Florida to pick up a shipment of the military identification cards. Then, prosecutors say, the source handed over the cards, the defendants gave him the money — and agents arrested the defendants.

“This case represents the importance of joint efforts by NCIS and Homeland Security Investigations necessary to safeguard our critical military infrastructures and disrupt fraudulent methods of access,” Special Agent in Charge Norm Dominesey of the NCIS Southeast Field Office said in a statement at the time of Zumba’s arrest. 

In the indictment, U.S. citizens Anny Chen, 54, Yafeng Deng, 23, Hailing Feng, 27,  Kiah Holly, 29, and Jaden Bullion, 24, were charged with marriage fraud conspiracy. 

Chinese nationals Sha Xie, 38, Linlin Wang, 38, Jiawei Chen, 29, Xionghu Fang, 41, Tao Fan, 26 and Kin Man Cheok, 32, were charged with marriage fraud conspiracy.

Anny Chen and Linlin Wang each face an additional charge of marriage fraud, while Hailing Feng and Kin Man Cheok had an additional bribery charge, the indictment said. 

A request for comment from CBS News to Bullion’s lawyer was not returned before publication; the other defendants do not have attorneys listed yet on their court records. 

Zumba, Brinio Urena, Morgan Chambers, and Jacinth Bailey, former service members in the United States Navy, have all pleaded guilty to charges related to the same scheme. Zumba faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.