Thai Ginger restaurant chain owner and Issaquah resident Varee Bradford, 44, pleaded guilty Oct. 23 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to various charges for setting up “sham marriages” for relatives so they could legally stay in the U.S.
She was arrested in June after a grand jury indicted her on four felony counts, conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, and three counts of fraud relating to immigration documents. Bradford pleaded guilty to those charges.
She faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy count, and 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine on the fraudulent immigration documents counts. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22.
Thai Ginger restaurants were started on the Eastside and now include five restaurants in the Seattle area. One is located in Issaquah’s Klahanie area.
According to the plea agreement, Bradford admits that between 2001 and 2007 she arranged for employees who are U.S. citizens to marry Thai relatives of hers, giving them legal status to stay in the U.S. The indictment specified four different arranged marriages where Bradford told them how to avoid detection and the employees were paid $20,000 for entering into the sham marriages.
In 2002, Bradford had a Thai Ginger employee enter into a sham marriage with one of her relatives so that the relative had legal status in the U.S. In 2005, Bradford had a Thai Ginger employee enter into a sham marriage with another Thai Ginger employee. Bradford paid the U.S. citizen $20,000 for the fraudulent marriage, telling the citizen the marriage only had to last two years. During that same year, Bradford set up a second sham marriage for one of her relatives with a U.S. citizen, again paying the citizen $20,000. In 2006, Bradford set up another sham marriage, this one for her nephew, a Thai citizen.
But in late 2007, Bradford’s arrangements snared her in an ICE sting operation. An undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was told she would pay him $20,000 for entering into a sham marriage. The “wife” in the sham marriage was changed mid-way through the scheme, when the original citizen had to return to Thailand. Nevertheless, Bradford introduced the undercover officer to a second Thai national who he was supposed to marry, and counseled him about how to prepare for the immigration interview. Bradford agreed to pay $20,000 to the undercover agent for participating in the sham marriage for two years.
“Marriage fraud undermines the integrity of our nation’s legal immigration system and potentially robs deserving immigrants of benefits they rightfully deserve,” said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Seattle. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that those who engage in these schemes can face criminal charges for their actions.”
Bradford was under ICE investigation for three years before she was arrested and charged.
A co-defendant in the case, Porramin Tangchaiwanna, one of Bradford’s managers, pleaded guilty to conspiracy earlier and was sentenced to four months in jail.
