US indicts 2 Indian brothers on marriage fraud charges

A federal grand jury in the US on Tuesday indicted two Indian brothers on charges of a marriage fraud scheme.

According to the indictment, Rajinder and Makhan Singh, allegedly entered into a conspiracy in 2011 with a woman into a sham marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws.

If proven guilty, the two face a maximum total sentence of 15 years in prison, a fine of USD 500,000 or both.

Federal prosecutors have told the court that Makhan introduced the woman identified as DH to his brother and paid her to marry him and to make false statements to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS).

The "couple" further staged pictures and opened joint bank accounts, and Makhan made payments for DH’s benefit, including paying for car insurance for a vehicle jointly registered to DH and Rajinder in order to falsely document their relationship and marriage.

The indictment also alleges that Rajinder made false statements to CIS on or about March 11, 2016, and December 14, 2017, when he stated that he did not live at a separate address from DH when they had lived separately.