BALTIMORE — A former Maryland pastor was sentenced on Thursday for his involvement in a scheme to marry off church members he recruited to foreign nationals in exchange for money. Joshua Shonubi, 59, of Bowie, is alleged to have facilitated 60 sham marriages and submitted over 100 fake documents to carry out his scheme.
He was sentenced to a 1.5 years in prison for federal charges of Conspiracy to Commit Visa and Marriage Fraud and a charge of Aggravated Identity Theft on Thursday.
According to his guilty plea, Shonubi, who was a pastor at New Life City Church, used his position as pastor to get church members who were U.S. citizens to marry foreign nationals for financial compensation. He accepted money from the foreign nationals to facilitate these marriages, and used his role as a pastor to recruit and groom economically disadvantaged United States citizens to marry these foreign nationals and then sponsored them for permanent resident in the U.S.
In addition, Shonubi also created fake documents and submitted them to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services so that the fake marriages would be accepted and the foreign nationals could apply for lawful permanent residency, and later United States Citizenship. Among other things, he submitted letters written on his church letterhead asserting under oath that he had performed and officiated the weddings himself. Shonubi also got ahold of and submitted fake leases and paystubs to support the façade that the marriage between the U.S. Citizen and the foreign national was legitimate. Between June 2008 and June 2021, Shonubi facilitated over 60 fake marriages and submitted well over 100 fake documents in support of his scheme.
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