00:00What if getting a green card came with a $100,000 price tag and a fake spouse?
00:05U.S. prosecutors say they've uncovered one of the largest marriage fraud schemes in U.S. history.
00:11And I'm not just talking about a handful of weddings.
00:13Authorities say the network arranged more than 1,000 sham marriages over roughly a decade,
00:19primarily for Chinese nationals seeking U.S. immigration status.
00:22Here's how it worked.
00:23Foreign nationals allegedly paid facilitators as much as $100,000.
00:27U.S. citizens willing to marry them could get up to $30,000.
00:32And recruiters?
00:33Around $5,000 per person they brought in.
00:36But the alleged operation went far beyond just saying, I do.
00:40Couples sometimes met for the first time right before getting their marriage license.
00:44Then staged wedding photos, opened joint accounts, filed taxes together,
00:48and even got insurance policies to make the relationships look real.
00:52They were allegedly coached on what to tell immigration officers, too.
00:55Eleven people have now been charged, and prosecutors believe the network made tens of millions of dollars.
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