A 39-year-old Seattle man was arrested Wednesday after being charged in a six-count federal indictment accusing him of running a yearslong scheme to fraudulently obtain U.S. immigration status for friends and family members. Mustafa Aman allegedly began submitting false information to government agencies as early as 2013 and kept it up as recently as 2024.
According to Yahoo News, Aman is accused of drawing on his own knowledge of the immigration system, as well as information pulled from a U.S. defense contractor, to manufacture fraudulent documents meant to grease the path to citizenship for others. Prosecutors say the fake paperwork included letters of recommendation, employee badges, and letters of support — the kind of records immigration officials might rely on to vet an applicant's background.
Aman himself had been granted U.S. citizenship because he was considered a trusted ally to the United States, per the same report. That status is central to how prosecutors describe the case: a person given special trust allegedly turning around and exploiting the very system that extended it to him.
Officials Describe a Betrayal of Trust
Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said Aman allegedly used fraud at every step of the process to bring others from Afghanistan to the United States, the outlet's report states. FBI Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington was similarly blunt, saying Aman is charged with using his position and special knowledge of the U.S. immigration process to cheat the system for his own benefit, and that of his family and friends.
As first reported by KIRO 7 News, Herrington also said the indictment serves as a reminder of the consequences of defrauding the United States and the importance of lawful citizenship applications. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda McDowell and Ben Lauenroth, the report notes.
What Aman Could Face
Conspiracy to defraud the United States, one of the charges Aman faces, is punishable by up to five years in prison, according to the same account. The evidence reviewed does not detail the other five counts in the indictment or indicate whether Aman has entered a plea.
The case echoes other recent prosecutions tied to fraud in the pipeline that brings Afghan nationals to the U.S. In a separate matter announced last month, an Afghan citizen identified as Dilbar Gul Dilbar, also known as Dilbar Gul Taj Ali Khan, pleaded guilty to visa fraud and was sentenced to six months in prison, according to the FBI's Buffalo field office. That case was handled in a different federal district and is not connected to Aman's indictment.
For now, the full scope of who Aman allegedly sought to help, and how the scheme operated over more than a decade, remains laid out only in broad strokes in public statements from federal officials. The case is ongoing in federal court in Seattle.
