Federal Officer and Associate Arrested for Immigration Bribery
A federal Immigration Services officer, along with an associate, was arrested recently on allegations of accepting bribes to grant immigration status to applicants.
Ryan Raybould, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, announced the arrest of Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, a former senior Immigration Services Officer, and his associate, Adeniyi Akeem Somoye. Both face charges for conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities as public officials.
“Selling immigration benefits for cash is a blatant abuse of public trust,” Raybould stated. “When a federal official puts a price tag on lawful status, we will intervene immediately. Public corruption will never be tolerated in the Northern District of Texas.”
FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock emphasized that manipulating immigration decisions for personal gain damages the integrity of a critical process for national security. He assured that the FBI and its partners are dedicated to holding accountable those who exploit their positions of trust.
The arrest filings allege that Ganiyu and Somoye profited significantly from illegal applications, reportedly earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to prosecutors, Ganiyu leveraged his position to expedite immigration applications in exchange for money. He is accused of ignoring required interviews, supervisory reviews, jurisdictional boundaries, background checks, and standard USCIS protocols to unlawfully push applications through for ineligible applicants.
Investigators discovered countless messages and hundreds of phone calls between the accused officers and migrant applicants whose requests were swiftly approved. The evidence reportedly includes WhatsApp messages among Ganiyu, Somoye, and a group of applicants seeking citizenship.
Ganiyu allegedly utilized his access to federal systems to access files from various offices to approve applications for those who paid for speedy processing.
It is reported that the migrant applicants transferred approximately $671,438 to Ganiyu through Zelle and Cash App, along with $287,830 in cash deposits intended to conceal the money’s origin since 2019.
Further investigation revealed that Ganiyu’s income was only $67,732 a year, while he had accumulated about $671,438 via instant transfer services and substantial cash deposits. In contrast, Somoye, who earned a legitimate salary of $7,506, reportedly accrued around $1.7 million, including a significant cash deposit of $449,010 into his bank account.
Interestingly, Ganiyu chose to resign rather than face termination. After departing from USCIS, both he and Somoye reportedly engaged in various financial transactions through banks and cash apps, with some transactions occurring in African countries—likely intended to obscure the origins of their funds.
They first appeared in court on September 2, and each faces a potential sentence of up to five years in prison, along with a $250,000 fine.
