Christian Dunbar, a Liberian immigrant, Temple University graduate, and once the City of Philadelphia treasurer, was quoted in a 2020 profile written about him, “I knew I’d ask her to marry me within a day of meeting her.” But which wife was he referring to?
Dunbar met Ndiaye, a Senegalese national, at Temple University. Despite his beliefs that Ndiaye was the one to marry, Dunbar actually married another Temple classmate- one with a U.S. citizenship- months after his graduation in 2009. Which gave him sponsorship for a green card. Shortly after Dunbar’s wedding, Ndiaye wed one of Dunbar’s football teammates, allowing her to also apply for a green card as well. Coincidence?
Although they were married to others, the Dunbar’s actually acted for years as man and wife living at the same address together, signing their first child’s birth certificate as a married couple, and listing each other as spouses on employment paperwork at their jobs. The Dunbar’s had a secret marriage ceremony in 2013 to celebrate their union.
Meanwhile, Dunbar’s first wife told agents that she had no idea he was living with another woman when he would disappear for days at a time during their marriage, assuming he was spending time with the West African community in West Philadelphia. She did divorce Dunbar in 2017 shortly after Dunbar received his green card.
Dunbar eventually got caught and pleaded guilty on October 13, 2022, to not only immigration fraud but failing to file income tax returns. Ironically, from 2015 to 2019, Dunbar did not file tax returns while he was treasurer of Philadelphia overseeing the city’s $4 billion investment portfolio. His sentencing is set for January 2023. No charges seem to have been filed against Ndiaye Dunbar.
A shout out to Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, and Homeland Security Investigations for working together to solve this case.
Today’s Fraud of the Day is based on an article “Ex-Philly Treasurer Christian Dunbar pleads guilty to faking marriage for citizenship” published by Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct. 14, 2022
Former Philadelphia Treasurer Christian Dunbar admitted before a federal judge Thursday that he fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship through a sham marriage and failed to file personal income taxes while working in the office that oversees the city’s fiscal stability.
Dunbar, 42, pleaded guilty to charges including immigration and tax fraud in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe. He now faces up to 10 years in prison on the most serious of those counts at a sentencing hearing set for January.
