11 CA residents charged with arranging sham marriages, submitting green card applications for 400 non-citizens

Eleven Southern California residents have been charged with operating a large-scale marriage fraud “company” that allegedly organized lots of of sham marriages in an try to avoid immigration legal guidelines, Division of Justice officers introduced Thursday.

Eight of the 11 defendants had been arrested in California. They are going to make their preliminary appearances in federal court docket in Los Angeles, however will later seem in Boston.

The next individuals had been indicated Thursday on conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration doc fraud:

• Marcialito Biol Benitez, a/ok/a “Mars,” 48, a Philippine nationwide residing in Los Angeles
• Engilbert Ulan, a/ok/a “Angel,” 39, a Philippine nationwide residing in Los Angeles
• Nino Reyes Valmeo, 45, a Philippine nationwide residing in Los Angeles
• Harold Poquita, 30, a Philippine nationwide residing in Los Angeles
• Juanita Pacson, 45, a Philippine nationwide residing in Los Angeles
• Felipe Capindo David, a/ok/a “Pilipi” or “Peebles,” 49, a Philippine nationwide residing in Los Angeles
• Peterson Souza, 34, a Brazilian nationwide residing in Anaheim
• Devon Hammer, 26, of Palmdale
• Tamia Duckett, 25, of Lancaster, Inglewood and Palmdale
• Karina Santos, 24, of Lancaster
• Casey Loya, 33, of Lancaster and Palmdale

Benitez allegedly operated the so-called “company” that organized the marriages between overseas nationals and U.S. residents, in keeping with the indictment.

The company allegedly ready and submitted false petitions, functions and different paperwork to substantiate the pretend marriage and safe purchasers’ immigration statuses for a payment of between $20,000 to $30,000.

One of many overseas nationwide purchasers lived in Massachusetts, officers stated.

Benitez allegedly operated the company out of workplaces in Los Angeles, the place he employed his co-conspirators as workers, officers stated.

Valmeo, Ulan, Poquita and Pacson allegedly assisted with arranging the marriages and submitting fraudulent paperwork together with false tax returns.

Hammer, Duckett, Santos and Loya allegedly served as “brokers” who recruited U.S. residents keen to marry purchasers in trade for a payment and month-to-month funds from the shopper spouses after the wedding, so as to hold the U.S. citizen “responsive and cooperative” till the shopper obtained lawful everlasting resident standing, authorities stated.

It’s also alleged that Souza and Capindo David referred potential overseas nationwide purchasers to the company for a fee, round $2,000 per referral.

After pairing overseas nationwide purchasers with citizen spouses, Benitez and his workers allegedly staged marriage ceremony ceremonies at chapels, parks and different areas, which had been carried out by employed on-line officiants. In lots of circumstances, the company would take photographs of the undocumented purchasers and citizen spouses in entrance of prop marriage ceremony decorations to later submit with immigration petitions, officers stated.

Benitez and his workers then allegedly submitted fraudulent marriage-based immigration petitions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers. Benitez and his workers allegedly coached purchasers and spouses by means of interviews with USCIS and suggested purchasers about sustaining the looks of a authentic marriage. Benitez and his co-conspirators did this for not less than 400 purchasers between October 2016 and March 2022, officers stated.

Benitez and his co-conspirators would additionally allegedly help sure purchasers – usually these whose spouses grew to become unresponsive or uncooperative – with acquiring inexperienced playing cards beneath the Violence In opposition to Ladies Act, by claiming the undocumented purchasers had been abused by American spouses, in keeping with the indictment. The company would allegedly submit fraudulent functions on purchasers’ behalf for short-term restraining orders towards spouses, but it surely was all primarily based on fabricated home violence allegations, officers stated.

The defendants would then allegedly submit the restraining order documentation together with immigration petitions to USCIS, so as to make the most of VAWA provisions that permit non-citizen victims of spousal abuse to use for lawful everlasting resident standing with out their spouses’ involvement, authorities defined.

“These defendants’ alleged exploitation of this technique for revenue is an affront to our nation’s custom of welcoming immigrants and potential residents,” United States Legal professional Rachael S. Rollins. stated. “Their alleged fraudulent habits makes issues tougher for the overwhelming majority of immigrants who observe the legislation and respect our immigration system. Past that, by allegedly submitting false functions that claimed home abuse, these charged defendants did additional hurt, this time to actual victims and survivors of home violence.”

The cost of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud carries a sentence of as much as 5 years in jail, three years of supervised launch and a positive of $250,000, officers stated.