Two U.S. Navy service members are facing federal charges in Florida, accused by prosecutors of entering fake marriages with Chinese people who wanted green cards.
In a pair of filings in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Dec. 23, prosecutors alleged that between September 2024 and February 2025, Jacinth Bailey and Morgan Chambers conspired with others to engage in marriage fraud for the benefit of the Chinese.
The Chinese, unnamed in either document, wanted to get green or lawful permanent resident cards through being the spouses of Ms. Bailey and Ms. Chambers.
Other conspirators offered Ms. Chambers $35,000 and Ms. Bailey $45,000 to participate in the scheme.
None of the other conspirators were named, but the details matched the cases of Navy reservist Raymond Zumba and veteran Brinio Urena, both of whom were arrested and pleaded guilty to charges relating to their involvement in the scheme last year, according to The New York Times.
According to the information filed against Urena, he recruited a Navy sailor to participate in the scheme on Sept. 13, 2024, lining up with the dates in the information filed against Ms. Chambers.
The same document also outlines Urena introducing Ms. Chambers to Zumba. The information filed against Zumba in turn lists the promise of $35,000 made to Ms. Chambers.
All three filings — the one against Ms. Chambers and the ones against Zumba and Urena — mention traveling to Las Vegas on Oct. 4, 2024. Ms. Chambers is accused of going to get married for $10,000. Urena is listed as accompanying her and Zumba in Las Vegas for the wedding.
Subsequent details in the information filed against Zumba line up with Ms. Bailey’s case. Prosecutors wrote in the Zumba filing that Urena introduced “Conspirator G” to Zumba in November 2024, which lines up with the allegations made in the filing against Ms. Bailey.
Both filings also mention travel to New York and a wedding in Connecticut, with participation by Zumba and Ms. Bailey, respectively, and describe other unnamed conspirators asking Ms. Bailey, through a translator, to get a military identification card for the Chinese man she married that would allow him to access military facilities.
Neither Ms. Bailey nor Ms. Chambers has pleaded guilty to the charges of marriage fraud.
