A federal grand jury in North Texas returned an indictment September 23 against a former immigration officer and an associate accused of collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from applicants while the officer bypassed background checks and other safeguards to approve immigration benefits.
The September 25 announcement names Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, a former senior immigration services officer with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Adeniyi Akeem Somoye. Federal agents arrested both men September 2.
Ganiyu allegedly skipped required interviews, supervisory review, jurisdictional limits and standard USCIS procedures to accelerate approvals, prosecutors said. The alleged scheme ran from December 2019 through March 2026.
“Selling immigration benefits for cash is a blatant abuse of public trust,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in the September 4 release announcing the original charge.
Green cards and citizenship applications
The applications included family petitions under Form I-130, permanent residency or adjustment of status under Form I-485, removal of conditions on residence under Form I-751, and naturalization under Form N-400, according to the DOJ account of the complaint.
Many applicants did not qualify for the benefits under federal law, investigators alleged. Prosecutors said several payments corresponded directly with approvals Ganiyu issued.
Investigators identified approximately $287,830 in unexplained cash deposits into Ganiyu’s accounts and about $671,438 in direct payments through Zelle, Cash App and other platforms, Newsweek reported, citing an affidavit it obtained. The filing linked at least some payments to USCIS applicants.
Investigators also identified thousands of WhatsApp messages and hundreds of calls involving the defendants and applicants, according to the September 4 DOJ release.
Federal charges and a defense denial
The original August 31 criminal complaint charged both men with conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official. DOJ said September 4 that each faced up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Its indictment announcement did not separately list the grand jury’s counts.
The USCIS Office of Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and the FBI Dallas Field Office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham is prosecuting the case.
Ganiyu “denies any criminal conduct” and disputes the government’s description of the transactions and applications, his attorney Alfonso Cabanas told Newsweek for its September 7 report. Both defendants remain presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove guilt in court.
Federal authorities have pursued other immigration-fraud cases in North Texas. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a separate May 2025 indictment accused two Dallas-area men and two businesses of participating in a scheme involving fraudulent work-visa applications.
How many approvals were compromised?
The September 4 and September 25 DOJ announcements do not identify how many applications received improper approvals or say whether USCIS is reviewing those decisions or seeking to revoke the resulting immigration benefits.
The U.S. attorney’s office said the alleged conduct jeopardized national security by allowing applicants to evade essential vetting requirements.
