{"id":54179,"date":"2023-09-28T16:55:24","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T23:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54179"},"modified":"2023-09-28T16:56:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T23:56:02","slug":"man-guilty-of-arranging-600-sham-marriages-to-fool-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54179","title":{"rendered":"Man Guilty of Arranging 600 Sham Marriages to Fool Immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"According to authorities, a Californian man admitted Wednesday in federal court in Boston to running a significant marriage fraud “agency” that set up hundreds of fictitious unions.<\/span><\/p>\n

These marriages were formed with the intention of evading immigration regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to officials, this included applying for green cards under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) on the grounds that the customers were the victims of alleged American marital abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marcialito Biol Benitez, a\/k\/a \u201cMars,\u201d 49, a Philippine national residing in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for Jan. 10. Benitez was arrested and charged in April 2022<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez operated what he and others referred to as an \u201cagency\u201d that arranged hundreds of sham marriages between foreign national \u201cclients\u201d and United States citizens, including at least one foreign national who resided in Massachusetts. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The agency then prepared and submitted false petitions, applications, and other documents to substantiate the sham marriages and secure adjustment of clients\u2019 immigration statuses for a fee of between $20,000 and $35,000 in cash.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez ran the organization from physical offices in Los Angeles, where he worked with his accomplices. <\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez’s employees are accused of helping to arrange weddings, preparing phony immigration and marriage paperwork for the agency’s customers, including falsified tax returns, and enlisting American residents to wed the clients in exchange for cash.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Benitez’s organization conducted fictitious wedding ceremonies at chapels, parks, and other sites, performed by hired internet officiants, after linking foreign national clients with citizen spouses. <\/span><\/p>\n

For a large number of clients, the agency would take pictures of spouses who were citizens and illegal clients in front of fake wedding decorations to be included with immigration applications later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez\u2019s agency then submitted fraudulent, marriage-based immigration petitions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency responsible for granting lawful permanent resident status. <\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez\u2019s agency coached clients and spouses through interviews with USCIS and advised clients about maintaining the appearance of legitimate marriage to their spouses. <\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez\u2019s agency arranged sham marriages and submitted fraudulent immigration documents for at least 600 clients between October 2016 and March 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez\u2019s agency would assist specific clients \u2013 typically those whose spouses became unresponsive or uncooperative \u2013 with obtaining green cards under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by claiming alleged American spouses had abused the undocumented clients. <\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, the agency would submit fraudulent applications on clients\u2019 behalf for temporary restraining orders against spouses based on fabricated domestic violence allegations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benitez\u2019s agency would then submit the restraining order documentation along with immigration petitions to USCIS to take advantage of VAWA provisions that permit non-citizen victims of spousal abuse to apply for lawful permanent resident status without their spouses\u2019 involvement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Benitez is the seventh defendant to plead guilty in this case. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/span><\/p>\n

The charge of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON\u00a0 According to authorities, a Californian man admitted Wednesday in federal court in Boston to running a significant marriage fraud “agency” that set up hundreds of fictitious unions. These marriages were formed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-court","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Guilty of Arranging 600 Sham Marriages to Fool Immigration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"BOSTON\u00a0 According to authorities, a Californian man admitted Wednesday in federal court in Boston to running a significant marriage fraud "agency" that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54179\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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