Man and Woman Sentenced for Immigration Marriage Fraud

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Faisal Garba-Adenkunjo, 29, of the Republic of Benin, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. The Honorable Laurie Smith Camp sentenced Garba to 6 months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release after he serves his prison term.

Farangis Gafarova, 24, of Tajikistan, was also sentenced today by Senior Judge Smith Camp. Gafarova was sentenced to five years of probation for conspiracy to commit immigration fraud and for entering into a marriage to evade the immigration laws.

Gafarova met Garba sometime in 2013 when they both attended Metropolitan Community College. Gafarova was in the United States on an F-1 Student Visa. Sometime in 2014, Garba offered to find Gafarova a United States Citizen to marry to allow her to remain in the United States once her student visa expired. Gafarova agreed and Garba recruited a United States Citizen, Jeremiah Logan, to participate in the scheme. The three defendants agreed upon an amount which Gafarova would pay to Garba and to Logan. In January of 2015, Gafarova married Logan. Logan, with the assistance of Garba and Gafarova, filed immigration paperwork on behalf of Gafarova seeking to obtain legal permanent resident status for Gafarova. The Department of Homeland Security Investigations learned of the fraudulent scheme and conducted an investigation which ultimately led to the federal indictment of all three defendants.  

Immigration proceedings will now begin for both Garba and Gafarova. Jeremiah Logan is awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Fraud Detection and National Security group.