Thread: WA-Seattle restaurant owner indicted in immigration scheme

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Seattle restaurant owner indicted in immigration scheme

01:10 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 23, 2009



SEATTLE - The owner of a chain of Thai restaurants in the Seattle area has been indicted on charges she paid her workers tens of thousands of dollars to enter into sham marriages with her relatives, allowing them to move to the U.S.

Varee Bradford, who operates five Thai Ginger restaurants in Seattle, Redmond, Issaquah and Bellevue, was arrested Tuesday and scheduled to make her initial appearance in federal court at 2:30 p.m. She is charged with one count of immigration fraud conspiracy and three counts of immigration document fraud.

A grand jury indictment cites four marriages between Thai Ginger workers and Thai nationals, three of whom were Bradford's relatives.


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Restaurant owner pleads not guilty to charges of setting up "sham marriages"
The owner of the Thai Ginger, a local chain of popular Thai restaurants, pleaded not guilty this afternoon to federal charges alleging she paid her employees thousands of dollars to enter into "sham marriages" with her relatives from Thailand so they could stay in the U.S.

By Ian Ith



The owner of the Thai Ginger, a local chain of popular Thai restaurants, pleaded not guilty this afternoon to federal charges alleging she paid her employees thousands of dollars to enter into "sham marriages" with her relatives from Thailand so they could stay in the U.S.

A federal grand-jury indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Seattle against Varee Bradford, 43, of Issaquah, who operates five Thai Ginger restaurants in Seattle and the Eastside. She was arrested this morning.

Bradford is charged with four immigration crimes, including conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.

She was released on personal recognizance after her initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court.

Also named in the indictment is an associate of Bradford, Porramin Tangchaiwanna, 32, also known as "Golf." He is charged with assisting Bradford in arranging a sham marriage with a man who turned out to be an undercover immigration agent. He also pleaded not guilty.

Bradford's husband, Michael, the co-owner of the restaurants, declined to comment this morning.

The charging documents specify four marriages that Bradford arranged between her employees and Thai relatives between 2001 and 2007.

Both male and female employees were offered between $10,000 and $20,000 to marry the Thai immigrants to make it easier for them to obtain permanent resident "green cards," and stay in the country, according to the charges.

In February 2008, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent went undercover and met with Bradford and Tangchaiwanna, the court documents say. Bradford offered $20,000 for the undercover agent to marry a woman named Nikki, the prosecutors charge.

Bradford told the agent that he should "communicate with Nikki on a frequent basis to get to know her and prepare for the immigration interview."

The agent was to receive $5,000 payments, with the last delivered when Nikki got her green card, the documents charge.

Bradford is also charged with helping to fill out the immigration paperwork that fraudulently claimed the arranged marriages were real.

Bradford's Thai Ginger restaurants are at Pacific Place in downtown Seattle, Madison Park, Redmond Town Center, Issaquah and in Factoria in Bellevue.

Ian Ith: iith@seattletimes.com


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Originally published Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 4:44 PM

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Feds: Seattle restaurateur paid 4 workers to marry
The owner of a chain of popular Seattle-area Thai restaurants has been indicted on charges alleging she paid workers tens of thousands of dollars to enter into sham marriages with her relatives, allowing them to stay in the U.S.

By GENE JOHNSON


SEATTLE —
The owner of a chain of popular Seattle-area Thai restaurants has been indicted on charges alleging she paid workers tens of thousands of dollars to enter into sham marriages with her relatives, allowing them to stay in the U.S.

Varee Bradford, who operates five Thai Ginger restaurants in Seattle and its Eastside suburbs was arrested at her Issaquah home Tuesday on one count of immigration fraud conspiracy and three counts of immigration document fraud. She was released on personal recognizance Tuesday afternoon after pleading not guilty in U.S. District Court.

A grand jury indictment cites four marriages between Thai Ginger workers who have U.S. citizenship and Thai nationals, three of whom were Bradford's relatives. Bradford paid three of the workers $10,000 to more than $20,000, while another, who had recently been promoted to management, received a loan of $3,780, the indictment said.

Three of the workers were men and one was a woman. They were told the marriages would only have to last two years, until the Thai nationals received their green cards.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Otake said after the court hearing that authorities believe the U.S. citizens knew the sham marriages were illegal and more charges could be forthcoming. She declined to say what prompted the investigation, which began in 2005.

Otake also said Bradford's motives were financial, in that the scheme allowed her relatives to remain in the country and continue working at her restaurant.

She noted that a sham marriage investigation involving Vietnamese nationals in 2006 resulted in the government temporarily halting the issuance of visas to fiances from Vietnam.

"The victims in this case are the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who want to come to this country," Otake said.

Also charged on Tuesday was Porramin Tangchaiwanna, a Thai Ginger employee accused of helping to set up a fifth, attempted marriage between an undercover immigration agent and a Thai woman last year. He remained in custody on an immigration hold after pleading not guilty and could face deportation.

Bradford's attorney, Jesse Cantor, and her husband declined to comment Tuesday.

Bradford faces a maximum prison term of five years on the conspiracy charge and 10 years on each of the document fraud counts. Tangchaiwanna is only charged with immigration fraud conspiracy, and could face a maximum five years.

The indictment includes a criminal forfeiture allegation, meaning the government is seeking to seize any property Bradford may have purchased with proceeds from criminal activity.



Lorie Dankers, a Seattle spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said she could not discuss the immigration status of anyone involved in the case. Otake noted that any who received green cards could have them revoked.

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