WASHINGTON (AP) — The US Department of Justice has charged nearly a dozen people with participating in a multimillion-dollar scheme to help hundreds of Chinese nationals fraudulently obtain green cards through sham marriages to US citizens, officials said Wednesday.

American citizens were paid as much as US$30,000 to enter into bogus marriages with immigrants seeking lawful permanent resident status as part of the scheme orchestrated from New York, according to court papers.

The defendants charged up to US$100,000 per green card, bringing in tens of millions of dollars over the course of the decade-long scheme, according to officials.