Nazzal, who operated Kabob Village Restaurant, also helped arrange sham marriages between Americans and Lebanese citizens, prosecutors said. The scheme's goal was to fraudulently obtain immigration benefits.

"These acts of dishonesty represent a threat to our economy and our national security," said Giovanni Tiano, special agent in charge of homeland security in Dearborn.

Twice during the late 1990s, Nazzal took American women to Ohio, where they married Lebanese men, according to court records.

The women are identified in court documents as "Brandi B." and "Priscilla T." Their bogus beaus: "Hussein N." and "Mohamad A."

The Detroit News has learned "Mohamad A." is Mohamad Arzouni, a former high-ranking employee of La Shish Restaurants.

Arzouni paid his phony bride more than $1,000 to marry him in September 1999, according to court records.

Afterward, Arzouni contacted Chahine for help obtaining permanent residence status based on the fraudulent marriage, according to court records.

Arzouni was sentenced to 10 months in prison in 2009 after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States.