FBI Arrests San Bernardino Shooter's Older Brother and Two Others in Marriage Fraud Investigation

Three people connected to the San Bernardino shooting were arrested Thursday after the FBI conducted searches at multiple residences in California, the Los Angeles Times reports, including the home of Syed Rizwan Farook’s older brother Raheel. An unnamed law enforcement official tells the paper that the arrest was tied to a marriage fraud investigation unrelated to the mass shooting.
This is the third search warrant federal agents have executed at Raheel Farook’s house since his brother, Syed Rizwan Farook, and his brother’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people late last year. The FBI searched Raheel Farook’s home shortly after the shooting, and then again in February, looking for the hard drive to his brother’s laptop.
But Farook—a decorated U.S. Navy veteran—also came under suspicion for his marriage to a Russian woman. From the Times:
The elder Farook and Enrique Marquez — a friend of Syed Rizwan Farook who has been charged with buying weapons used in the assault — were married to a pair of sisters from Western Russia: Tatiana and Mariya Chernykh.
Tatiana was married to Raheel Farook, while Mariya was wed to Marquez in 2014. Late last year, Marquez was charged with marriage fraud after federal prosecutors accused him of receiving money to marry Mariya Chernykh.
Records have shown Mariya Chernykh resided in Ontario and did not live with Marquez.
According to the Associated Press, the Chernykh sisters were also arrested Thursday. Prosecutors say the three lied under oath to obtain immigration benefits.