Nigerian pastor in U.S. charged with fraudulently ‘arranging’ 60 fake marriages
Joshua Olatokunbo Shonubi, a 50-year-old Nigerian pastor based in the U.S, has been indicted before a federal grand jury for allegedly arranging over 60 fake marriages for immigrants to enable them get resident permits.
U.S Attorney for the District of Maryland, Erek L. Barron, who announced this on Friday said that Shonubi would appear before Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson of the Baltimore District Court.
Shonubi is the Senior Pastor of New Life City Church, Inc. in Hyattsville, Maryland.
He was on charged with “conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, visa fraud and for presenting false documents to a federal government agency, in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain permanent resident status for foreign nationals by arranging marriages to U.S. citizens.”
The seven-count indictment indicating that Shonubi engaged in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain immigration benefits for foreign nationals by arranging their marriages to United States citizens who served as their sponsors for permanent residence in the United States.
Shonubi is alleged to have received thousands of dollars from foreign nationals in exchange for connecting them with U.S. citizen sponsors and facilitating their marriages.
The indictment reads in part, “Shonubi, often utilizing his role as pastor of New Life Church, directly or through others, recruited and groomed U.S. citizens, including economically disadvantaged citizens, with payments and promises of money in exchange for marrying foreign nationals, then sponsoring the foreign nationals for permanent residence in the United States through USCIS.
“In addition to officiating these fraudulent marriages, the suspect also wrote reference letters for foreign nationals’ permanent residency applications on New Life Church letterhead, lying about his relationship to them.
“The pastor also gave false testimony regarding his counseling and spiritual guidance, as well as the arranged couples’ romantic relationship,” part of the indictment reads.
Shonubi faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and marriage fraud and a maximum of five years in federal prison for each of the other six counts for presenting false documents to a federal government agency, if convicted.
