Federal authorities November 29 arrested 11 men and women in Los Angeles County, Orange
County and the Bay Area for operating an alleged phony marriage scheme that targeted Asians
seeking U.S. citizenship.
They charged Chinese and Vietnamese nationals up to $60,000 to marry American citizens to
obtain green cards.. Operation Newlywed Game, a three-year investigation involving multiple
law enforcement agencies, resulted in indictments of 44 people, mostly Chinese and Vietnamese
Americans. The charges include conspiracy, misuse of visas and marriage fraud.
During a hearing November 29 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, U.S. Magistrate Judge
Arthur Nakazato released some of the defendants to house arrest while setting bail for others at
$25,000 to $75,000. Many of the suspects were already in custody in other cases, and three
remained at large.
According to immigration authorities, recruiters were paid $1,000 for each U.S. citizen they
referred who was willing to marry a foreigner and submit a visa petition. The U.S. citizens
received $3,000 to $5,000, in addition to travel expenses, to fly to Vietnam or China for an
arranged marriage and to apply for visas for their spouses, authorities said.
Those arrested Tuesday were Julie Tran, Kathy Tran, Minh Hong Duong, Hoa Hoc Phung,
Cuong Thoia Diep, Thuy Linh Thi Tran, Paul Hill, Victor Quoc Truong, Lien Tam Vo, Alex
Pham and Tuong Vi Thi Phan. (Source: Anna Gorman and David Reyes, Los Angeles Times,
Nov. 30, 2005