William Matthew Tex Price, Marriage Fraud, Florida 2024

William Matthew Tex Price, 31, of Cocoa, Florida, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for orchestrating a sprawling marriage fraud ring that exploited the U.S. immigration system for cash. The scheme, which operated out of Brevard County, paired American citizens with illegal aliens from former Soviet states in sham marriages designed to secure lawful status. Price’s sentence runs concurrent with a separate two-year term for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, sealing his fate behind federal bars.

U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron handed down the sentence after court documents revealed Price acted as a recruiter for Denis Yakovlev, 40, of Russia, who admitted to brokering roughly 100 fraudulent marriages over 18 months. Each sham union came with a price tag: $1,000 to $2,000 paid to Yakovlev, and $10,000 to $20,000 funneled to U.S. citizens willing to play along. Price personally recruited at least 20 Americans, including his ex-wife, Meghan Toole, 28, Cocoa, who later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months in prison.

In August 2015, Price arranged for U.S. citizen Khagan Mushfig Oglu Nabili, 24, of Azerbaijan, to marry into the scheme. The following month, he matched Toole with Bakhramovich Yadigarov, 26, of Uzbekistan. False immigration petitions followed, all aimed at fast-tracking residency through deceit. Price didn’t stop there—he also entered into fraudulent marriages with Maria Rogacheva, 28, of Russia, and Svetlana Vladimirovna Shakhramanyan, 28, of Azerbaijan, further deepening his web of lies.

Rogacheva, sentenced to five months’ imprisonment, tried to dodge accountability by filing a fraudulent battered spouse petition, claiming abuse in her marriage to Price. She later admitted the marriage was never legitimate, they never cohabitated, and she was never harmed. Her attempt to exploit humanitarian protections backfired, exposing the calculated fraud at the heart of the operation.

HSI Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero didn’t mince words: “These criminals defrauded the government and undermined the integrity of our nation’s legal immigration system.” He emphasized that the crackdown sends a clear message—those who profit from immigration fraud will be hunted down. Yakovlev was previously sentenced to 15 months in November 2016. April Coleen Moore, 24, of Satellite Beach, awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to a sham marriage with Valriy Tsoy, 33, of Kazakhstan. Trial dates for Tsoy, Yadigarov, and Shakhramanyan are set for May 2018.

The investigation was a joint force of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Fraud Detection unit, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and the ATF. Prosecution was handled by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina R. Downes, assigned from ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor. An indictment is not a conviction—every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.