Federal authorities have charged Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, a former Senior Immigration Services Officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and an associate, Adeniyi Akeem Somoye, in what prosecutors describe as a multi-year scheme to receive illegal gratuities in exchange for manipulating immigration applications. A federal criminal complaint was filed on August 31, 2026, and both men were arrested on September 2.
According to the complaint, from December 2019 through March 2026 Ganiyu used his official position to approve immigration applications — including Forms I-130, I-485, I-751 and N-400 — in exchange for money. Investigators allege he bypassed required interviews, supervisory review, jurisdictional limitations, background checks and standard USCIS processing protocols in order to unlawfully expedite approvals, and that many of the beneficiaries were not eligible under federal law. The scheme is alleged to have involved approximately $960,000 in payments.
Investigators say they identified extensive WhatsApp communications between Ganiyu, Somoye and numerous applicants whose cases they handled, including thousands of messages and hundreds of calls during the charged period. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Both defendants are charged with conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official, and a criminal complaint is an allegation — neither man has been convicted.
USCIS addressed the case directly on its official account, stating that its employees “are held to the highest standards of professional and ethical behavior” and that “there is no place in this agency for corruption, abuse of authority, or violations of public trust.”
For applicants, the practical lesson is about the market this case exposes. Anyone offering guaranteed approvals, insider access, or expedited processing outside official channels — for a fee — is describing criminal conduct, and applicants who pay for it risk having approvals revoked and facing fraud findings of their own. Every legitimate expedite path runs through USCIS’s published criteria, and case status is checked through official channels only.
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Source: X (Twitter) @USCIS