Restaurant owner pleads not guilty to charges of setting up "sham marriages"

The owner of the Thai Ginger, a local chain of popular Thai restaurants, pleaded not guilty this afternoon to federal charges alleging she paid her employees thousands of dollars to enter into "sham marriages" with her relatives from Thailand so they could stay in the U.S.

A federal grand-jury indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Seattle against Varee Bradford, 43, of Issaquah, who operates five Thai Ginger restaurants in Seattle and the Eastside. She was arrested this morning.

Bradford is charged with four immigration crimes, including conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.

She was released on personal recognizance after her initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court.

Also named in the indictment is an associate of Bradford, Porramin Tangchaiwanna, 32, also known as "Golf." He is charged with assisting Bradford in arranging a sham marriage with a man who turned out to be an undercover immigration agent. He also pleaded not guilty.

Bradford's husband, Michael, the co-owner of the restaurants, declined to comment this morning.

The charging documents specify four marriages that Bradford arranged between her employees and Thai relatives between 2001 and 2007.

Both male and female employees were offered between $10,000 and $20,000 to marry the Thai immigrants to make it easier for them to obtain permanent resident "green cards," and stay in the country, according to the charges.

In February 2008, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent went undercover and met with Bradford and Tangchaiwanna, the court documents say. Bradford offered $20,000 for the undercover agent to marry a woman named Nikki, the prosecutors charge.

Bradford told the agent that he should "communicate with Nikki on a frequent basis to get to know her and prepare for the immigration interview."

The agent was to receive $5,000 payments, with the last delivered when Nikki got her green card, the documents charge.

Bradford is also charged with helping to fill out the immigration paperwork that fraudulently claimed the arranged marriages were real.

Bradford's Thai Ginger restaurants are at Pacific Place in downtown Seattle, Madison Park, Redmond Town Center, Issaquah and in Factoria in Bellevue.

Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com