JUST IN: Senior Immigration Official Charged in MASSIVE Citizenship Bribery Scheme

A former senior U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official has just been charged in a gigantic bribery scheme.

Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu and his financial accomplice Adeniyi Akeem Somoye are accused of accepting illegal gratuities in exchange for fast-tracking citizenship and other immigration applications.

Both men are Nigerian immigrants themselves, and some of the applications they illegally processed were for Somoye and his family.

In total, they allegedly cashed in on nearly $960,000 as part of the conspiracy.

Benny Johnson broke down the details:

🚨A Senior U.S. Immigration Official Charged In Alleged $960K Citizenship Bribery Scheme

Prosecutors say Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, a former Senior Immigration Services Officer, and Adeniyi Akeem Somoye took nearly $960,000 to fast-track citizenship and other applications.

From… pic.twitter.com/IcSLTiY05l

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 7, 2026

A Senior U.S. Immigration Official Charged In Alleged $960K Citizenship Bribery Scheme

Prosecutors say Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, a former Senior Immigration Services Officer, and Adeniyi Akeem Somoye took nearly $960,000 to fast-track citizenship and other applications.

From 2019 to 2026 they allegedly:
-Skipped background checks and interviews
-Reassigned cases from other field offices so Ganiyu could approve them himself
-Fast-tracked Somoye’s own citizenship, then residency for his wife and child

Imagine how many Biden Government holdovers were also doing this everyday.

Charge them the max penalty.

The scheming pair have been charged with multiple federal offenses that carry a maximum sentence of up to five years behind bars, along with a $250,000 fine.

Fox News listed the charges:

The former official, Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, and his financial accomplice, Adeniyi Akeem Somoye, were arrested on federal charges for their roles in an alleged multi‑year scheme to receive illegal gratuities in exchange for manipulating and expediting immigration applications, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

The pair were charged with conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official, and they were arrested on Wednesday.

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Investigators found extensive WhatsApp messages between Ganiyu, Somoye and numerous applicants whose immigration cases they handled, including thousands of messages and hundreds of calls.

The majority of the citizenship applications that the two were allegedly bribed to fast-track were from African countries.

The New York Post detailed their (alleged) crimes further:

The pair, located in Texas, bypassed standard procedures by funneling bribe-paying applicants directly to Ganiyu — skipping key steps in the immigration process like criminal background checks, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

Ganiyu rigged the USCIS system to seize control of applications, fast-tracking them for a payout, prosecutors said.

The senior official allegedly fast-tracked citizenship for his alleged partner in crime, Somoye, then green-lit residency for Somoye’s wife and child.

Ganiyu hijacked the system to snatch files from field offices in Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Houston — avoiding local supervisors to rubber-stamp the applications himself, according to the US attorney’s office.

Between December 2019 and March 2026, Ganiyu pocketed roughly $671,438 via Zelle and Cash App — plus $287,830 in cash deposits designed to hide the money’s source — from citizenship applicants, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

Acting as money manager, Somoye accumulated roughly $1.7 million in transfer volume, which is partially attributed to applicants via bank transfers, Zelle, and Cash App, skimming a portion of the applicants’ bribes as payment. He also deposited $449,010 in cash, according to the documents.

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The illicit windfall dwarfs their meager reported incomes: Ganiyu pulled in a $67,732 annual government paycheck, while his moneyman Somoye claimed a measly $7,506 in legitimate yearly wages.

Talk about corruption on the inside…

I don’t know about you, but five years in jail seems pretty lenient for two schemers that handed out U.S. citizenship in exchange for cash.

Also, all of the immigrants who bribed these two to get citizenship need to be thoroughly investigated!

Folks on X are sharing their thoughts:

All those cases should be reviewed and revoked
Our immigration system is so corrupt that Trump’s pause on green cards should be expanded to naturalization processes

— JOV (@El__Chuco_) September 7, 2026