Federal prosecutors in California are accusing a California man and his daughter of charging immigrants up to $50,000 for sham marriages that they hoped would help them obtain legal residency in the United States, Reuters reported.

Jason Shiao, 65, who posed as an immigration attorney, and his daughter Lynn Leung, 43, were arrested on Wednesday and charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud, a felony that carries a prison sentence of up to five years upon conviction.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for Central California said that the two have been tied to more than 70 immigration applications dating back to 2006. In one case, they arranged a wedding for a Chinese national who agreed to pay $50,000 for what she thought would be a real marriage but later learned that the U.S. citizen chosen for her was a gay man, an affidavit detailed.

Shiao operated his supposed law office in Pasadena, California, and went so far as to arrange fake honeymoons to make the marriages appear authentic, Time said based on the charges. Authorities are also searching for a third person, Shannon Mendoza, who is accused of having recruited U.S. citizens to act as spouses.

"There has been a period of affluence in China, so there are people of means who have the money and have a desire to immigrate to the United States," explained Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge Claude Arnold, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office warned that U.S. citizens who enter into sham marriages for immigration applications can be charged with fraud, Reuters pointed out. In the case of Shiao and his daughter, many never received the $10,000 they had been promised, prosecutors said.

Errol Stambler, an attorney for Leung, meanwhile, told the newswire that the couples involved may also be in hot water. "Should the marriage be legitimate, then there's nothing wrong with brokering a marriage," Stambler said. "(But) if in fact the marriage is fraudulent, then it should be a crime for everybody, not just the people who would be the alleged arrangers of the marriage."