Overview
- Federal agents arrested Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu and Adeniyi Akeem Somoye on Sept. 2 and charged them with conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities in a scheme prosecutors say ran from December 2019 through March 2026.
- Court documents accuse Ganiyu of using his USCIS role to approve Forms I‑130, I‑485, I‑751 and N‑400 for applicants who paid, and they say Somoye acted as a financial intermediary who moved funds for applicants.
- Prosecutors say investigators traced roughly $960,000 in identified payments to the pair using Zelle, Cash App, bank deposits and cash, and they cite WhatsApp logs with thousands of messages and hundreds of calls linking the defendants to applicants.
- The complaint alleges procedural abuse including skipping interviews, supervisory review, background checks and local jurisdictional limits to reroute files from field offices for approval, and the defendants face up to five years in prison and fines if convicted.
- The case, led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas with FBI and DHS OIG involvement, raises questions about USCIS internal controls and could prompt changes to supervision, audit access and how applicants verify their case integrity.