A former senior employee of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, was arrested in Texas on September 2, along with Adeniyi Akeem Somoye, both Nigerian immigrants. Ganiyu served as Senior Immigration Services Officer at the USCIS office in Dallas and is accused of leading a corruption scheme that allegedly moved nearly $960,000 to expedite and improperly approve immigration applications, including green card and U.S. citizenship applications, between December 2019 and March 2026.
According to the indictment, Ganiyu diverted applications from other USCIS offices, including units in Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Houston, to take them on personally and circumvent local oversight. Among the documents processed irregularly were Form I-485, family sponsorship petitions, removal of conditions on permanent residence, and naturalization. Authorities state that interviews, criminal background checks, and supervisor reviews were skipped in many cases, allowing approval of benefits to individuals who did not meet the requirements of federal law.
The amounts received by Ganiyu include approximately $671,438 through transfers via Zelle, Cash App, and other digital platforms, in addition to some $287,830 in cash deposits. Somoye, acting as a financial intermediary, allegedly processed approximately $1.7 million in transfers linked to the applicants. The investigation, conducted by the USCIS Office of Investigations, gathered thousands of WhatsApp messages and hundreds of phone calls between the two defendants and the applicants for immigration processes.
The two men face charges of conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official, with a penalty of up to five years in prison each. Ganiyu's attorney, Alfonso Cabanas, stated that his client denies any criminal conduct and contests the government's characterization of the financial transactions and immigration applications. U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould declared that selling immigration benefits in exchange for money is a clear abuse of public trust and that public corruption will never be tolerated in the district.
