3 foreign nationals indicted by federal grand jury for illegally registering to vote in California, casting ballots in US elections

The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced October 28 that the three Los Angeles County residents were charged in separate indictments with making false statements under oath on their naturalization applications.

The defendants were identified as Sulema de León, 35, a Mexican national living in Long Beach; Rouzbeh Seyamaknejad, 63, a Canadian national residing in Rancho Palos Verdes; and Butleng Taing, 43, a Cambodian national also living in Long Beach.

“The grand jury has started returning indictments against noncitizens who registered to vote, including those who voted in prior elections,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “Safeguarding the integrity of our elections remains a top priority for our office and we will continue investigating and charging election fraud.”

According to federal prosecutors, de León registered to vote in California in June 2013, falsely declaring under oath that she was a U.S. citizen. In September 2019, she allegedly lied on her naturalization application by declaring under penalty of perjury that she had never claimed American citizenship or registered to vote in a federal, state, or local election. De León allegedly voted in the November 2020 general election despite not being a U.S. citizen at the time of her voter registration.

Seyamaknejad allegedly registered to vote in California in December 2018, also falsely declaring under oath that he was an American citizen. In January 2024, when applying for naturalization, he allegedly falsely stated under penalty of perjury that he had never claimed U.S. citizenship or registered to vote in an American election.

Although Wednesday's indictment announcement did not mention him casting a ballot, the Justice Department previously alleged that Seyamaknejad voted in the November 2024 general election.

The third defendant, Taing, allegedly registered to vote in California in July 2021, falsely claiming under oath that he was an American citizen. Federal prosecutors said Taing subsequently voted in the November 2022 and November 2024 general elections.

In August 2025, Taing allegedly made false statements on his naturalization application, declaring under penalty of perjury that he had never claimed U.S. citizenship or registered to vote in an American election.

The indictments follow an October 19 Justice Department operation in which federal authorities charged 28 foreign nationals with election-related offenses in California, including fraudulent voter registrations and false statements on naturalization applications.

The operation, dubbed "Operation Protect the Vote," involved all four California-based U.S. Attorney's Offices. Federal authorities arrested 11 defendants during the operation.

According to the DOJ, all 28 defendants were lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, who were legally residing in the United States but were not American citizens and therefore were ineligible to vote in federal elections.

The federal crackdown followed an October 13 lawsuit against California, in which the Justice Department alleged that more than 20,000 likely noncitizens were registered to vote in the state.

Federal investigators said they identified the individuals through an examination of voter registration records and federal immigration information. The preliminary findings have not established that all 20,000 individuals are noncitizens or that they cast ballots.

The Justice Department said it provided California election officials with a list of suspected noncitizen registrants and requested that their eligibility be verified and their mail-in ballots set aside pending verification.

California declined to cooperate with the request, according to federal prosecutors, prompting the administration to seek a court order.

"Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen," Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said when the 28 defendants were charged.

"Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week. California refused to look at that list. Today's charges show exactly what that refusal puts at risk."

Essayli also criticized California officials at the time, saying the state was mailing ballots to noncitizens while refusing to cooperate with federal efforts to verify voter eligibility.

The three defendants named in Wednesday's indictments face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison each if convicted.