Background

• Indictment (May 21, 2019) charges a multi-year marriage-fraud conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371) involving Guche, Mutisya, and Mbote; Counts 2–4 charge only Mbote.
• The indictment alleges the conspiracy’s purpose was to obtain conditional and lawful permanent resident status and citizenship by fraudulent marriages and false immigration filings.
• Mutisya moved to dismiss, arguing the five-year statute of limitations expired because the conspiracy ended when she received unconditional residency (Dec. 16, 2010) and her last overt act was mailing a statement on Dec. 7, 2010.
• The government alleges multiple overt acts within the limitations period, including: Mbote’s false Form N-400 filing (June 6, 2014); Guche’s false statements to USCIS (June 18, 2014); Mbote’s false interview statements (Aug. 27, 2014); and Mutisya’s payments to the U.S. citizen co-conspirator through June 2017.
• The court applied the rule that conspiracy is a continuing offense that remains prosecutable if an overt act in furtherance occurs within five years of indictment, and must accept the indictment’s allegations as true at this stage.
• Recommendation: deny Mutisya’s motion to dismiss because the indictment alleges overt acts within the five-year limitations window.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• United States v. Stewart, 841 F. Supp. 2d 431 (D. Me. 2012) (discusses scope-of-conspiracy question for limitations analysis)
• Ashraf v. Lynch, 819 F.3d 1051 (8th Cir. 2016) (conspiracy is a continuing offense through the last overt act)
• Grunewald v. United States, 353 U.S. 391 (U.S. 1957) (defining the scope of conspiratorial agreement for limitations purposes)
• United States v. Ongaga, 820 F.3d 152 (5th Cir. 2016) (timeliness requires at least one overt act within the limitations period)