On Thursday, the FBI Field Office in Jacksonville, Florida, published this update on a high-profile case. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted 11 individuals on marriage fraud conspiracy, marriage fraud, and bribery conspiracy charges, which involved ensnaring U.S. military members.
CASE UPDATE from @FBIJacksonville: Eleven Individuals Indicted in a Marriage Fraud Conspiracy
— FBI (@FBI) February 5, 2026
According to the indictment, the individuals recruited members of the US armed forces to enter into sham marriages to Chinese nationals for the purpose of evading immigration laws. The… pic.twitter.com/Z3LeUa4TdP
CASE UPDATE from @FBIJacksonville: Eleven Individuals Indicted in a Marriage Fraud Conspiracy
According to the indictment, the individuals recruited members of the US armed forces to enter into sham marriages to Chinese nationals for the purpose of evading immigration laws. The conspirators took photographs to create evidence that the couples were in loving, committed relationships. In reality, the conspirators had agreed that the US citizen spouse would receive a cash payment up front for marrying the Chinese national, a second payment when legal immigration status was obtained, and a final payment after the divorce.
According to the indictment, [the] individuals [named] allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to recruit United States citizens, preferably members of the armed forces, to enter into sham marriages to Chinese nationals for the purpose of evading immigration laws and illicitly obtaining lawful permanent resident status for the Chinese nationals. The sham marriages took place around the country, including in Jacksonville, as well as in New York, Connecticut, and Nevada. To create the illusion of a real marriage, the conspirators took photographs of the couples to create evidence that could be presented to immigration authorities to suggest that the marriages were legitimate, and the couples were in loving, committed relationships. In reality, the conspirators had agreed to a payment plan whereby the United States citizen spouse would receive a cash payment up front for marrying the Chinese national, a second payment when legal immigration status was obtained, and a final payment after the divorce.
Anny Chen and Wang are charged additionally for a sham marriage that occurred in Jacksonville in August 2024.
In related cases, Raymond Zumba, Brinio Urena, Morgan Chambers, and Jacinth Bailey, former servicemembers in the United States Navy, have all pleaded guilty to charges related to the same scheme. Their sentencing hearings are pending.
In an excellent analysis, my colleague Ward Clark detailed just how much our U.S. military is being targeted by the CCP:
It doesn't stop there. China is also gathering military intelligence. Some examples from the report:
January 8, 2024: Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, of California, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for transmitting sensitive military information to a PRC agent in exchange for bribery payments.
January 31, 2024: Four PRC nationals—Baoxia LIU, Yiu Wa YUNG, Yongxin LI, and Yanlai ZHONG—were indicted in the District of Columbia for their involvement in a conspiracy to unlawfully export and smuggle U.S.-origin electronic components to Iran over several years. The defendants allegedly utilized front companies in the PRC to funnel dual-use items, including those used for military applications, to Iranian entities affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
May 24, 2024: Former CIA officer, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, of Honolulu, pled guilty to conducting espionage on behalf of the Chinese government through providing national defense information to the PRC’s Shanghai State Security Bureau. On September 11, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit espionage
Read More: China's Threat Profile: An Assessment
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The alleged fraudsters are an interesting assortment, not just because a majority are Chinese, but because of the states that they hail from. From the indictment, here's the dirty list of supposed conspirators:
- Anny Chen (54, New York)
- Sha Xie (38, China)
- Linlin Wang (38, China)
- Jiawei Chen (29, China)
- Yafeng Deng (23, New York)
- Hailing Feng (27, New York)
- Kiah Holly (29, Maryland)
- Xionghu Fang (41, China)
- Tao Fan (26, China)
- Jaden Bullion (24, Florida)
- Kin Man Cheok (32, China)
Apart from Florida and China, three of the alleged conspirators hail from New York and one from Maryland. These states have recently been in the news because of the Chinese spy infiltration at the highest levels of state and federal governance.
In the Maryland, a Democrat House Delegate who is still in office and sits on powerful committees, and has held extensive defense contracting roles was part of the CCP's Thousand Talents Program and was president of its college group for many years.
Democratic Delegate Chao Wu was born in Hubei, China, and has been a member of the Maryland House of Delegates since January 2023, where he serves on the Ways and Means Committee. Prior to attaining elected office, he served as president of the University of Maryland’s chapter of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, and an archived version of his LinkedIn page shows that he was once affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s Thousand Talents Program.
The CSSA was established to “monitor Chinese students and mobilize them against views that dissent from the CCP,” and its individual chapters are overseen by the CCP’s United Front Work Department, a global network of party loyalists tasked with gathering intelligence and exerting influence, according to the State Department. The Thousand Talents Program, meanwhile, has been flagged by the FBI as a Chinese government-backed industrial espionage operation.
[...]
Wu’s tenure as president of the University of Maryland’s CSSA chapter occurred while he was working on an engineering doctorate at the institution in the early 2000s. The length of Wu’s affiliation with the Thousand Talents Program, which is listed on an archived version of his LinkedIn page from 2013 as the “Thousand Talents Plan Overseas Talent Exchange Circle,” is unknown.
What is known, however, is that despite Wu’s links to two established CCP influence groups, he landed jobs within the federal government and at firms dealing in sensitive technologies.
In New York, one spy was embedded in the governor's office for years. As RedState reported, Linda Sun, the former Deputy Chief of Staff to NY Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), bragged about how easy Hochul was to control, as my colleague Rusty Weiss reported.
Sun held several prominent roles under Cuomo before becoming Hochul's Deputy Chief of Staff. She controlled Hochul's office. She controlled Hochul's pen. She controlled what came out of her mouth. And she did it on China's behalf.
Sun was fired from the state government in 2023 after initial allegations surfaced.
Dive Deeper: Chinese Spy Bragged Hochul Was ‘Obedient,’ Coached Her on Pro-CCP Talking Points for Post-COVID Video
What This Chinese Spy Got Away With in Kathy Hochul’s Name Boggles the Mind, Court Docs Reveal
And lest we forget, the 2023 incident of the Chinese spy balloon, which was packed with American technology and allowed to collect data from military bases across the United States for days before finally being shot down.
Note that the spy balloon transited Alaska, flying just north of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, possibly over Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, then proceeded to fly over the missile silo complexes in the Dakotas and over several military bases in the central and southern United States before being shot down off the South Carolina coast. While a balloon is at the mercy of the winds, prevailing winds very conveniently will take such a balloon on this route if it is launched in the right place.
The inclusion of American technology not only demonstrates a considerable degree of planning and forethought, but it also shows that China is easily capable of obtaining superior American technology — and using it against us. This was a serious intelligence-gathering exercise by a country that is growing increasingly bellicose towards the United States — and our allies.
More CCP Infiltration: REPORT: 2023 Chinese Spy Balloon Was Loaded With American Technology
BUSTED: Biden Administration Misled About the Chinese Spy Balloon Not Transmitting Data
The indictment also involves Chen, Feng, and Cheok allegedly conspiring to bribe a Navy official. One of the former military members under separate indictment attempted to bribe connections in the Naval Air Station personnel office in order to obtain Department of Defense (now the Department of War) documentation.
The indictment also alleges that Anny Chen, Hailing Feng, and Kin Man Cheok conspired to bribe a public official. Specifically, in January 2025, a confidential source reported to law enforcement that Navy reservist Raymond Zumba (who has also already pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official) had offered to bribe the source and the source’s spouse who worked at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville in the personnel office that issues Department of Defense identification cards. The source reported that Zumba asked whether the spouse would be willing to issue real, but unauthorized ID cards for an under-the-table payment. Acting at the direction of federal agents, the source proceeded to engage in a series of communications with Zumba during which they discussed Zumba’s plan to obtain unauthorized ID cards in exchange for cash. After driving from New York, Zumba arrived in Jacksonville on February 13, 2025, with Anny Chen, Feng, and Cheok.
If you've been asleep concerning China's undue influence on our republic, now is a good time to wake up. The CCP's infiltration of our interior and every institution of culture and governance that was once insidious has now become brazen. It seems at this point, they no longer feel the need to hide it. This latest exploitation involving the loneliness epidemic, vulnerability of pay gaps of military members, and the lack of vigilance and/or partnership by parties that simply want power at all costs — including the cost of U.S. sovereignty — reflects that we are even more vulnerable than we may have believed.
This proves true the axiom from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War": “So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.”
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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