In a development revealing the intricate web of immigration and passport fraud, U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton delivered sentencing for Uzbek national Dilrabo Obidova, 36, for her involvement in a long-standing conspiracy. The court has confined Obidova to a time-served sentence and ordered her immediate deportation to Uzbekistan with no chance to seek asylum or other immigration remedies. Obidova previously submitted a guilty plea in May 2024. Her accomplice and husband, Abduvosit Razikov, is charged under the same indictment and remains a fugitive, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Court documents reveal that Obidova and Razikov have been conspiring since at least 2007 to help Obidova illegally enter the U.S. from Uzbekistan and gain immigration benefits. Over a decade ago, Obidova entered into a fake marriage with a U.S. citizen while still married to Razikov. She created a false narrative by living with her supposed spouse, filing joint taxes, taking staged photos, and listing her fake partner as the father on her children’s birth certificates.
Her elaborate scheme of deceit was revealed further when Obidova aimed to ascend to naturalized U.S. citizenship. It was within her naturalization application that she committed perjury; she misrepresented her personal narrative, marital state, and prior unlawful endeavors to extract immigration benefits. The curtain fell on Obidova's act when she was apprehended in Orlando during her conclusive naturalization appointment, as detailed in government records.
The case was thoroughly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, supported by collaborative efforts from various federal and local agencies, including the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Assistant United States Attorneys Kara M. Wick and Richard Varadan were the names leading the prosecution.
