Prosecutors have accused Lukman Ganiyu, a former US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official, of accepting nearly $960,000 in bribes in exchange for bypassing US immigration processes and approving citizenship applications.
Investigators said they uncovered the alleged racket through
WhatsApp messages between Ganiyu, his alleged financial accomplice Adeniyi
Somoye, and individual citizenship applicants.
Ganiyu and Somoye were arrested last week.
According to the US attorney’s office, Ganiyu bypassed
required interviews, supervisory reviews, jurisdictional limitations,
background checks and standard USCIS processing protocols to unlawfully
expedite approvals for applicants, many of whom were ineligible under federal
law.
The prosecutors said most of the citizenship applications
Ganiyu and Somoye handled came from African countries.
The scheme reportedly ran from December 2019 through March
2026.
Court documents obtained by the New York Post showed that
during the period, Ganiyu received roughly $671,438 via Zelle and Cash App as
well as $287,830 in cash deposits allegedly designed to conceal the source of
the money from citizenship applicants.
Somoye, who acted as a money manager, handled roughly $1.7
million in transfers, some of which were attributed to applicants through bank
transfers, Zelle, and Cash App.
He allegedly skimmed a portion of the applicants’ bribes as
payment and also deposited $449,010 in cash, according to the documents.
The illicit proceeds dwarfed the duo’s reported incomes:
Ganiyu earned an annual government salary of $67,732, while Somoye reported
$7,506 in legitimate yearly wages.
Ganiyu was also accused of fast-tracked citizenship for
Somoye before approving residency for Somoye’s wife and child.
The US attorney’s office said the former immigration
official manipulated the system to re-route files from field offices in
Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Houston by bypassing local supervisors to
rubber-stamp the applications himself.
As the investigation mounted, Ganiyu was not immediately
fired.
Instead, he resigned from USCIS “due to personal reasons” in
March, just months before federal authorities moved to arrest him.
Ganiyu and Somoye had initial court appearances on September
2. They each face up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to
$250,000.
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