Syed Raheel Farook, his wife, Tatiana Farook, and her sister Mariya Chernykh were arrested by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged with conspiracy to make a false statement immigration officials while under oath, the US Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
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The law enforcement authorities have accused the three people of lying to U.S. federal investigators and engaging in marriage fraud, according to media reports.
After confirming the warrants, Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said the U.S. Attorney’s office would provide more details on Thursday.
Search warrants were served Thursday in Corona and Ontario in connection with the investigation into the San Bernardino massacre, authorities said. The FBI stated that the investigation of the San Bernardino shooting led them to the marriage fraud conspiracy as a part of the probe into the terror attack.
The third person arrested is the wife of Enrique Marquez Jr, a friend of Farook who has been charged over his alleged role in aiding last year’s violence. He is also awaiting trial on marriage fraud charges.
The couple opened fire at an annual training event of Farook’s San Bernardino County co-workers.
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Thus far, there have been no indications that Syed Raheel Farook, a Navy veteran who won medals for his military service, was in any way involved in the San Bernardino shooting.
