Restaurant Owner Accused of Paying Employees To Marry

The co-owner of a chain of Asian restaurants in the Seattle area was recently indicted on immigration fraud charges.  Varee Bradford apparently paid employees of the Thai Ginger restaurants she owns with her husband to marry her relatives so they could immigrate from Thailand.

Bradford has been charged with arranging four sham marriages over the past eight years.  The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency had been following her for at least three years before they caught her offering an undercover agent cash in exchange for marrying one of her Thai relatives.

Thai Ginger employees were offered up to $20,000 dollars to marry Bradford’s relatives.  A similar case involving a Cambodian woman led to her conviction earlier this year.  She still awaits sentencing.