A marriage agency is facing federal charges, accused of allegedly arranging sham marriages for more than 400 foreign national clients — including some from Massachusetts — to circumvent immigration laws. U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said foreign nationals each paid at least $20,000 to $30,000 to be paired with an American to secure a green card by marriage. Rollins said the mastermind of the Los Angeles-based operation was Marcialito Biol Benitez, known as “Mars,” a Philippine national residing in California, who, from October 2016 until March 2022, ran the agency that arranged the scam marriages. The American was paid an upfront fee and monthly payments from the client spouses following the marriage – to keep the U.S. citizen responsive and cooperative until the client spouse obtained lawful permanent resident status, Rollins said. The “couples” were coached on how to prepare for interviews with immigration officials, to ensure their fictitious relationship stories matched and each knew vital information about the other. The agency is also accused of staging pictures of the couple, including wedding pictures. “These weddings were not love stories,” Rollins said. “As alleged in the indictment, these individuals committed multiple frauds on the United States government with the explicit goal of circumventing immigration laws.”Benitez and his staff would then submit fraudulent, marriage-based immigration petitions to U S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency responsible for granting lawful, permanent resident status. If the American participants became unresponsive or uncooperative, Benitez and his team would work to obtain the green card under the Violence Against Women Act by claiming the undocumented clients had been abused by their American spouses, Rollins said. On Thursday, eight of 11 people indicted in the case were arrested, Rollins said. The scam involved “in or about” three clients from Massachusetts, Rollins said. The charge of conspiring to commit marriage fraud carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A marriage agency is facing federal charges, accused of allegedly arranging sham marriages for more than 400 foreign national clients — including some from Massachusetts — to circumvent immigration laws.
U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said foreign nationals each paid at least $20,000 to $30,000 to be paired with an American to secure a green card by marriage.
Rollins said the mastermind of the Los Angeles-based operation was Marcialito Biol Benitez, known as “Mars,” a Philippine national residing in California, who, from October 2016 until March 2022, ran the agency that arranged the scam marriages.
The American was paid an upfront fee and monthly payments from the client spouses following the marriage – to keep the U.S. citizen responsive and cooperative until the client spouse obtained lawful permanent resident status, Rollins said.
The “couples” were coached on how to prepare for interviews with immigration officials, to ensure their fictitious relationship stories matched and each knew vital information about the other. The agency is also accused of staging pictures of the couple, including wedding pictures.
“These weddings were not love stories,” Rollins said. “As alleged in the indictment, these individuals committed multiple frauds on the United States government with the explicit goal of circumventing immigration laws.”
Benitez and his staff would then submit fraudulent, marriage-based immigration petitions to U S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency responsible for granting lawful, permanent resident status.
If the American participants became unresponsive or uncooperative, Benitez and his team would work to obtain the green card under the Violence Against Women Act by claiming the undocumented clients had been abused by their American spouses, Rollins said.
On Thursday, eight of 11 people indicted in the case were arrested, Rollins said. The scam involved “in or about” three clients from Massachusetts, Rollins said.
The charge of conspiring to commit marriage fraud carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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