Relatives of San Bernardino attacker deny fake marriage allegations after arrest by FBI

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Members of the media stand outside the home of Syed Raheel Farook, the elder brother of San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, after the FBI served a warrant to the location. Photo: AP

Published: 7:12am, 29 Apr 2016Updated: 10:54am, 29 Apr 2016

Authorities in California on Thursday arrested three people tied to one of the San Bernardino attackers on charges of marriage fraud, conspiracy and lying under oath.

None of these charges directly relates to the terrorist attack last year, but the FBI says these counts stemmed from the investigation into the December 2 shooting carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife.

Prosecutors said Farook’s brother – Syed Raheel Farook – was arrested after being charged with a marriage fraud conspiracy. Raheel’s wife, Tatiana Farook, and her sister, Mariya Chernykh, were also arrested, the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said on Thursday morning.

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According to an indictment returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury and unsealed Thursday, all three have been accused of lying under oath to gain immigration benefits for Chernykh, 26.

Federal agents investigating the shooting have now arrested four people with connections to the two attackers, who killed 14 people in a rampage thought to have been inspired by the Islamic State.

Chernykh, 26, is married to Enrique Marquez Jnr, who bought the assault rifles used in the San Bernardino attack and was charged in December with conspiring to carry out other attacks with Farook in 2012. These other plans were never carried out, but prosecutors say they became very detailed, with participants discussing strategies for assaulting a busy road in Riverside, California, so that they could kill motorists and first responders alike.

In addition to the charges for these earlier plots, Marquez was also accused of defrauding immigration services by entering into a sham marriage with Chernykh.

Marquez was a close friend of Farook and, federal authorities say, bought the two assault-style guns that Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, used in the shooting. The indictment unsealed on Thursday said that Marquez married Chernykh to obtain immigration benefits for her.