They face many years in prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Florida charged natives of Uzbekistan, U.S. citizens Abduvosit Razikov (44 years old) and Dilrabo Obidova (35 years old), with immigration fraud and defrauding the U.S. government.
They were charged with years of criminal conspiracy to commit false information to federal agencies, illegally obtain immigration benefits, false information on a US passport application and unlawfully obtain a US passport.
They both face up to 5 years in prison for conspiracy and up to 10 years in prison for forgery of a passport. Also, Obidova faces up to 5 years in prison for providing false information, and up to 10 years in prison for trying to obtain US citizenship illegally.
According to the indictment, Razikov, a native of Uzbekistan, obtained immigrant status and then US citizenship through a fake marriage with a US citizen. In turn, Obidova conspired with Razikov in order to register a fake marriage with a US citizen in order to receive immigration benefits. Later, Razikov and Obidova married secretly and hid their relationship from the immigration authorities. In particular, in the birth certificates of Razikov and Obidova’s children, Obidova’s fake husband was indicated as the father. In an attempt to cover up their fake marriage, they made several false statements on US passport applications.
After obtaining lawful permanent resident status, Obidova attempted to become a US citizen. According to the indictment, Obidova made numerous false statements on her naturalization application about her background, marriage and attempts to illegally obtain immigration benefits and status.
The prosecutor’s office reminds that these are just formal charges, and the defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty in court.
The case is said to have been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in cooperation with several state agencies.
