A Californian organized hundreds of fictitious marriages in the United States so that immigrants would receive green cards: matchmaking cost from $20

A California man has pleaded guilty to running a massive marriage fraud agency that arranged hundreds of sham marriages to circumvent immigration laws. This included obtaining green cards under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as clients were abused by American spouses. This is stated on the website US Department of Justice.

Photo: IStock

Marsialito Biol Benitez, aka “Mars,” 49, a Filipino citizen residing in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and falsifying immigration documents. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Kasper set sentencing for Jan. 10, 2024. Benitez was arrested and charged in April 2022.

Benitez ran an agency that arranged hundreds of sham marriages between clients - foreign citizens and US citizens.

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The agency would then create and submit fraudulent petitions, applications, and other documents to certify the marriages and obtain adjustments to clients' immigration status for fees ranging from $20 to $000 in cash.

Benitez ran the agency from fixed offices in Los Angeles, where his accomplices worked as employees. They helped arrange marriages, issue false marriage and immigration documents for agency clients, including false tax returns, and recruited US citizens to marry agency clients in exchange for hefty sums of money.

After selecting spouses from among foreign citizens, Benitez's agency organized fictitious wedding ceremonies in chapels, parks and other places, which were performed by persons hired via the Internet. For many clients, the agency took photographs of spouses in front of fake wedding decorations for subsequent submission to immigration petitions.

This fictitious marriage agency then submitted false immigration petitions based on marriage to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency responsible for granting lawful permanent resident status.

The scammers instructed clients and spouses on how to pass the USCIS interview and advised them on maintaining the appearance of legality of the marriage. Between October 2016 and March 2022, the fake agency arranged sham marriages and submitted fraudulent immigration documents for at least 600 clients.

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Benitez's agency helped some clients (usually those whose spouses were unresponsive or uncooperative) obtain green cards under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), alleging that the clients had been abused by their American spouses. Specifically, traffickers submitted false applications on behalf of clients for temporary restraining orders against spouses based on fabricated charges of domestic violence. Benitez's agency then filed restraining order documents along with immigration petitions with USCIS to take advantage of VAWA provisions allowing non-citizen victims of spousal abuse to apply for permanent resident status without the participation of their spouses.

Benitez became the seventh defendant to plead guilty in the case.

The charge of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $5 fine.

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