A Mohave Valley man, Douglas Lee Thayer, is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than one million dollars from Chinese Nationals by falsely promising them U.S. citizenship.
The 68-year-old Thayer is charged with one count of wire fraud and six counts of mail fraud.
According to Department of Justice, Thayer operated U.S. Adult Adoption Services Inc. (USAAS) in 2015-2016, a business that promised its clients U.S. citizenship in exchange for money.
Thayer is accused of fraudulently representing to clients, who were mostly Chinese nationals, that they would be adopted (as adults) by United State citizens. This would supposedly allow the clients to obtain new birth certificates and, subsequently, obtain United States citizenship for themselves. Thayer charged each client an upfront payment between $5,000 and $20,000 for USAAS’s services.
Thayer allegedly received more than $1,018,337.83 in total payments from clients.