Former USCIS official, accomplice charged in alleged $960K citizenship bribery scheme
Nine hundred sixty thousand. Skipped background checks. Citizenship for sale.
Summary
- Fox News reports former senior USCIS official Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu and financial accomplice Adeniyi Akeem Somoye were arrested Wednesday on federal charges of conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities, per the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
- Prosecutors say that from December 2019 to March 2026 they skipped criminal background checks, interviews, and standard reviews, rerouted files from Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Houston, and that Ganiyu fast-tracked Somoye's own citizenship, then residency for Somoye's wife and child.
- Court papers cited by the New York Post say Ganiyu took about $671,438 via Zelle and Cash App plus $287,830 in cash deposits, nearly $960,000. Somoye allegedly processed about $1.7 million in applicant transfers and deposited $449,010 in cash.
- Ganiyu resigned in March citing personal reasons. U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said selling immigration benefits for cash is a blatant abuse of public trust. Each defendant faces up to five years and a $250,000 fine if convicted. The case is charged, not tried.
Commentary
A Dallas night clerk still waits behind plexiglass for a lawful stamp while a back door sold the same oath for Cash App. He did not pay overtime so a background check could be skipped.
Six hundred seventy-one thousand. Two hundred eighty-seven thousand. Minneapolis. Charlotte. Houston. The honest dad already paid the line. The shortcut paid the phone.
Look every working father who still files the hard way in the eye and answer this: if citizenship can be Zelled, who still owns the next oath?
Comments
Ganiyu. Somoye. Dec. 2019 to March 2026. $671,438 plus $287,830. Hold that math.
I stood a gate so a file would stay honest. A skipped interview is not a neighborhood.
ND Texas. Conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities. Five years. $250,000. Publish the four.
Allied desks still treat a background check as the door. A Cash App oath is a bill.
Minneapolis. Charlotte. Houston. Somoye's own citizenship first. File the reroutes.
I still punch a clock for a lawful card. I want the next stamp counted, not sold.
A skipped check is not a courtesy. It is a warning the line already paid.
A priced oath is a second border. The first background check should have been enough.
Fox printed $960K, the three cities, and Raybould. Argue those nouns.
Audit the files. Keep the checks. A visitor who buys the stamp is not a neighbor.
