(TNND) — Eleven New Yorkers have been charged in what Attorney General Todd Blanche called one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history.

Blanche said the defendants arranged more than 1,000 sham marriages between foreign nationals, mostly from China, and Americans over the course of at least a decade.

Blanche said the defendants, mostly naturalized citizens from China, built a “multimillion-dollar cottage industry” to obtain fraudulent green cards for foreigners and “skirt the immigration laws of the United States.”

The indictment comes out of the Southern District of New York, but federal prosecutors allege the defendants arranged sham marriages throughout the U.S., including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.

Blanche said some of the charged defendants acted as “facilitators” – orchestrating the scheme – while others acted as recruiters to pull in willing Americans or officiants to conduct fake marriages.

Blanche said the facilitators would use social media and other forms of advertising to market fraudulent immigration services to foreign nationals.

Chinese nationals would pay facilitators as much as $100,000 for help in obtaining a marriage, which then allowed them to apply for a green card, according to Blanche.

The facilitators also paid willing Americans as much as $30,000 to engage in a sham marriage, he said.

Defendants allegedly staged photographs and opened joint accounts with banks, mobile phone carriers and more to make the marriages appear legitimate.

And defendants allegedly coached participants on how to conceal the true nature of their relationships to immigration officers.

Blanche said the participants would sign prenuptial agreements, waiving their typical rights in marriage, including claims to each other’s estate upon death, child support and marital property. One agreement even went so far as to state that aside from being husband and wife in name, the parties would live independently and wouldn’t interfere with each other.

All told, the Justice Department believes the defendants collected tens of millions of dollars from foreign nationals seeking lawful permanent resident status.

"These charges, and the indictments now unsealed, they show how far people will go to cheat our immigration system,” Blanche said at a news conference Wednesday. “Gaining American citizenship and legal status to reside in this great nation is a sacred privilege, and we will ensure it is always done in accordance with the law protecting our communities and national security."

President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders last week intended to stop birth tourism – another move the administration said is targeting those who cheat the U.S. immigration system.

“Our efforts to protect our immigration system and our country's borders are aggressive and exhaustive,” Blanche said. “No matter how complicated the scam, we will do everything in our power to stop it."

The newly unsealed two-count indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud, and with conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of aliens in the United States.

The defendants were identified as Amy Cheng, 72; Xiao Mei Chan, 64; Christine Lu, 52; Jing Yan Ye, 43; Xiao Yan Chen, 48; Gang Zheng, 61; Anthony Cheng, 47; Michelle Duenas, 35; Angela Duenas, 26; Sigrid Cetino, 32; and Erika Johnson, 43.