Marriage Fraud Military - Army Sergeant Lawrence Oppong-Kyekyeku, who is stationed at Fort Bragg, is charged with marital fraud, marital fraud and aiding and abetting. (Chris Seward/AP)
A grand jury indicted two men on Wednesday on charges of involvement in a criminal organization designed to fraudulently marry foreigners to soldiers.
Marriage Fraud Military
The organization recruited active and former military personnel from the Fort Bragg area and foreign nationals primarily from Ghana, Nigeria and the United Kingdom, investigators said in court documents.
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It is not clear how many people were involved in the organization, but court documents say there are at least seven known participants, a number of unknown participants and at least 10 to 15 fraudulent couples.
According to the allegations, the sham marriages arranged by the broker offered foreigners a path to citizenship and soldiers the opportunity to collect thousands of dollars in living and housing allowances off base.
Joshua Kwame Asane is accused of marrying a soldier with the intention of obtaining lawful permanent residency in the United States.
The charges listed against the 45-year-old Ghanaian are marriage fraud, marriage fraud, visa fraud, making a false statement in an immigration proceeding and obstructing a person's testimony in an official proceeding.
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When the traitorous couple married, court documents say, Army Sgt. Lawrence Oppong-Kyekyeku of Fort Bragg provided immigration officials with a certified letter confirming the legality of the relationship. Oppong-Kyekyeku, a citizen of Ghana, claimed to have been a close friend of the couple before their marriage.
Oppong-Kyekyeku's letter read: "I have been to their house and seen the love between them... I have no doubts about the authenticity of this marriage."
Joshua Asan's "wife" told investigators that she met her future husband outside the Cumberland County courthouse on the day they were married.
Oppong-Kyekyeku is now charged with marriage fraud, marriage fraud and abetting, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if he is convicted.
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Asane's brother, Ebenezer Yeboa Asane, was arrested in October 2019 on charges of mediating between soldiers and civilian applicants.
The Army's Criminal Investigation Division and the Document Fraud and Homeland Security Benefits Task Force were in charge of the investigation. Headquartered in Raleigh, the DBFTF has members from a wide range of state and federal agencies.
Investigators noted Ebenezer Asan's attempts to persuade undercover police officers to marry foreigners, offering thousands of dollars and boasting a "100% success rate" with at least 10 to 15 previous couples.
Ebenezer Asan also told the undercover officers that they could report their husbands living in New York to receive an additional $4,000 a month in BAH.
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The "wife" of Joshua Asan, also an Army sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg, told investigators how a member of his unit introduced her to Ebenezer Asan, who proposed a false marriage idea to her brother.
"Marriage is not legal. We never had sex or had any kind of intimacy. I married Joshua to get BAH to leave the post," the soldier told investigators.
When the Asane brothers heard about the investigation and the possibility that the soldier might be forced to testify, Ebenezer Asane taught him how to lie before a grand jury and convince investigators of the legitimacy of his marriage.
"After a thorough review of all relevant evidence and factors, subjects under investigation are generally provided with opportunities to mitigate the consequences of their criminal conduct," a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina told the Military Times if Sgt. when he asked. be charged. "In some cases, it can be a cooperative effort that reduces the charges filed."
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Ebenezer Asane and several other foreigners allegedly involved in fake marriages are still awaiting indictment.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt, but a formal charge resulting from an investigation by a grand jury. The Asane brothers, Oppong-Kyekyeku and others have yet to face trials to determine their guilt.
This isn't the first case of fake weddings at Fort Bragg. In December 2019, Army Sgt. Edward K. Angua, a culinary specialist with the 3rd Expeditionary Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to conspiring to marry immigrants to soldiers in exchange for cash and other benefits, such as a barracks license and basic benefits. housing benefits.
"While these are legally and factually separate conspiracies, there are connections and overlaps between the alleged conspiracy with Asanes and the charges against Angua," a US Attorney's Office spokesman said.
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"Such crimes threaten the national security and public safety of the United States by creating a vulnerability for terrorists, other criminals and illegal aliens to enter and remain in the United States," the spokesperson said.
Harm Venhuizen is an editorial intern at the Military Times. He is studying political science and philosophy at Calvin University, where he is also in the Army's ROTC program.
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A former Fort Bragg soldier and a current sergeant are among 11 people charged with marriage fraud, US attorneys' officials announced this week.
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A federal indictment alleges that former soldier Ebenezer Yeboah Asane, 37, planned and arranged fake marriages of aliens to soldiers at Fort Bragg, US Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Robert J. Higdon Jr. said. , is said in the message.
The purpose of the plot, officials said, was to allow foreign-born citizens to circumvent US immigration laws and obtain lawful permanent resident status and basic military housing benefits.
Fort Bragg sergeant Samuel Manu Agyapong, 33, was also charged with obstruction of justice for attempting to destroy evidence and tamper with witness testimony, the statement said.
The indictment alleges that several defendants colluded with Asane, recruited other soldiers into a fraudulent scheme, faked photos to make the marriage appear legitimate, and made false statements to the USCIS supporting the fake marriages.
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Officials say the investigation is ongoing. It is being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security's Benefits and Document Fraud Task Force and the Army Criminal Investigation Command.
Officials said the maximum sentences are five years in prison for marriage fraud, 10 years for foreign asylum, 20 years for obstruction of official process and 25 years for visa fraud. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials want service members to say "I do nothing" to marriage fraud, warning it is a federal crime and not a laughing matter.
In an effort to prevent and avoid these marriages, which offer legal immigration status primarily for a fee, Special Agent in Charge of ICE's Division of Homeland Security Investigations Todd Siegel said military personnel become financially involved with their fictitious spouses.
To validate the marriage, couples have joint bank accounts and the spouse may be eligible for a soldier's basic housing allowance or other military benefits, he said.
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"They'll be attached to that person for years," Siegel said. "We've seen American citizens clean up their bank accounts."
Marriage is one of the most common and obvious means of obtaining citizenship for non-citizens. About a million people become citizens every year, a third of them through marriage. The agency estimates that at least five percent of them are scams.
"Even if it's 5%, it's worrying ... it hurts the legal immigration system," Siegel said.
If foreigners participate, there is also a national security risk, he said. A fake spouse can use a service member's connection to access your facility or sensitive information.
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"We don't know why - if they are just trying to stay in this country or if they have more nefarious purposes," he said. "Even one case can have dramatic results."
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