Jamaican National Indicted on Immigration Fraud and Benefits Charges

U.S. citizenship, mail fraud, and wire fraud, the Justice Department announced on Thursday. Curry entered the United States on a six-month B-2 travel visa in 2015 and never left, according to charging documents.

Prosecutors allege she paid a third party to arrange a fraudulent marriage to an American citizen and that she and her purported husband met for the first time on the day of their marriage and never lived together before or after. U.S. citizenship immediately rather than waiting the required three-year minimum.

She allegedly provided false information about her marriage under penalty of perjury in immigration documents and used her citizenship to petition for her mother to become a lawful permanent resident. Less than two years after enlisting, Curry applied for a medical discharge and received Veterans Administration disability compensation.

She allegedly claimed her husband as a dependent to increase her monthly benefit.

U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Curry faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on the wire and mail fraud charges, up to 10 years for some immigration charges, and the possibility of denaturalization.

The case is one of the federal fraud prosecutions pursued through President Donald Trump’s multi-agency task force to eliminate fraud within federal benefit programs, a whole-of-government effort spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance.