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Politics25 outlets ran this5 min read

US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals

Justice Department calls it one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in US history, with fees up to $100,000 per arrangement

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals

What this story says

  • The US Justice Department indicted 11 people for arranging about 1,000 sham marriages to help Chinese nationals obtain permanent residency.
  • The scheme ran from 2016 to 2026, charging foreign nationals up to $100,000 per sham marriage, with US participants paid around $30,000.
  • Defendants face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit marriage and immigration fraud.
  • No left-rated outlet carried the story, according to the reports below.

Who covered it

Left 5%(1)Centre 33%(7)Right 62%(13)

Percentages are shares of the 21 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 4 of the 25 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

86/100

Craft

95/100

Hype

30/100

25 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 1 of the 21 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

The US Justice Department unsealed a two-count indictment on 12 August 2026, charging 11 individuals with operating a marriage fraud scheme that arranged about 1,000 sham marriages. The scheme ran from 2016 to July 2026, targeting Chinese nationals seeking permanent residency in the United States. Attorney General Todd Blanche described it as one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in US history.

Foreign nationals paid up to $100,000 for a sham marriage, while US citizens recruited to participate received approximately $30,000. The network operated in multiple states, including Connecticut, Florida, and Georgia, as well as in China and Vanuatu. Defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit marriage and immigration fraud, with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison if convicted.

The indictment alleges the scheme used staged wedding ceremonies, joint bank accounts, and coached participants to deceive US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Some ceremonies were held in restaurants, with participants changing into traditional Chinese wedding attire to create the appearance of legitimacy.

What the coverage left out

None of the left-rated reports carried the story. None of the right-rated digests mentioned the $30,000 payment to US participants, a detail included in Anadolu Ajansı’s full report. None of the centre-rated digests named the defendants or described the staged wedding ceremonies in detail, though CBS News did both in its full report.

Tags:#USImmigration#MarriageFraud#JusticeDepartment#ChineseNationals#TrumpAdministration

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 12 Aug 2026, 21:00, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

Photos included in the indictment of alleged sham marriage ceremonies submitted in support of immigration applications. Justice Department
CBS NewsCentre
US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals
New York PostRight

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

1 rated outlet

We have not written our reading of the left coverage of this story. The left-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.

Centre

7 rated outlets

  • The five centre-rated digests led on the scale of the scheme and its duration. CBS News and Reuters both reported the 1,000 sham marriages and the decade-long operation. CBS News named three defendants, Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan, and Gang Zheng, and described the scheme as a "multi-million-dollar cottage industry". WTVB and Reuters noted the case followed a Trump administration order on birth tourism.
  • CBS News quoted Attorney General Todd Blanche calling the scheme a "yearslong, multi-million-dollar cottage industry to criminally assist people who would not or legally could not otherwise become citizens". The outlet also detailed how the defendants marketed the service on social media and through word of mouth, and included photos of alleged sham ceremonies from the indictment.

Right

13 rated outlets

  • The ten right-rated digests led on the scheme’s size and its connection to Chinese nationals. Anadolu Ajansı, the only right-rated outlet with a full report, quoted Attorney General Todd Blanche describing the scheme as a "deliberate affront" to US laws and emphasising that such actions "will not be tolerated under the Trump administration". The outlet also reported that US participants received about $30,000 per sham marriage.
  • Fox News, Newsweek, and the Washington Times all used the phrase "one of the largest marriage fraud schemes in US history". The Daily Signal and RedState highlighted the $100,000 fee paid by foreign nationals. The New York Post focused on the scheme’s New York operations, calling it a "NYC fraud scheme".

Read it at the source

25 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

1

Centre

7

Right

13
Show 5 more

Not rated

4

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals?
Of the 21 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 5% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 62% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 25. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 21 rated outlets on this story, 5% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 62% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals biased?
US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals is one event reported by 25 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered US indicts 11 in decade-long sham marriage scheme for Chinese nationals?
25 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
How many sham marriages were arranged in the scheme?
The US Justice Department indictment alleges about 1,000 sham marriages were arranged between Chinese nationals and US citizens from 2016 to 2026. The scheme was described as one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in US history.
What were the fees charged in the sham marriage scheme?
Foreign nationals paid up to $100,000 for a sham marriage to obtain permanent residency in the US. US citizens recruited to participate received approximately $30,000 per arrangement, according to the indictment.
Which outlets reported the story and which did not?
The story was reported by five centre-rated outlets and ten right-rated outlets. No left-rated outlet carried the story, according to the reports reviewed. The right-rated Anadolu Ajansı provided the most detailed account.

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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