Eleven charged in large-scale marriage sham operation using fake immigration docs

These days, love ain’t what it used to be.

Just ask Marcialito Biol Benitez, a Philippine national living in California who organized an elaborate marriage fraud operation. At least his heart was in the right place…even if his methods were a little shady.

Along with ten other people in California, Benitez has been indicted for allegedly running a large-scale “agency” dedicated to arranging phony nuptials so that hundreds of undocumented immigrants might obtain their green cards.

The crafty Benitez was the reportedly ringleader of the outfit, which operated between October of 2016 and March of this year, and is accused of arranging the sham marriages and submitting fake immigration documents on behalf of at least 400 clients, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts

So what does a phony marriage cost these days? Between $20,000 and $30,000 in cash. Which means Benitez and his associates raked in somewhere between $8-$12 million over the life of their operation.

“Marriage fraud is a serious crime that threatens the integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system,” explained U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins. Given the state of the country’s borders under the Biden Administration, it’s unclear whether “integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system” was meant ironically.

“These defendants’ alleged exploitation of this system for profit is an affront to our nation’s tradition of welcoming immigrants and prospective citizens.”

Benitez’s operation was actually quite sophisticated. It worked like this: the Los Angeles-based “marriage agency” would contract phony marriages between a foreign client and a U.S. citizen. According to the indictment, the U.S. citizen got a fee and monthly payments out of the gig, forked over by their “spouses” to continue participating in the scam.

It gets better. Benitez reportedly went so far as to arrange fake wedding ceremonies in public areas such as parks and chapels, complete with officiants he found online (where else?) The U.S. Attorney’s Office also alleges that Benitez coached his clients and their “spouses” through the interview process with immigration officials, and even gave them pointers on how to maintain the illusion of a happy, entirely above-board marriage.

It’s the sort of thing you’d expect from a cheesy Hollywood rom-com, but it was all real. So what happened if the faux spouses decided to renege on their obligations? Benitez had that one figured out too. In these circumstances, he would allegedly work to obtain a green card anyway, citing the Violence Against Women Act and claiming his clients were abused by their American husbands. The Act has provisions under which the non-citizen wife of an American may still obtain a green card if spousal abuse is cited.

“This case should serve as a warning to others,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, of the FBI’s Boston field office. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners are united in our efforts to disrupt and dismantle criminal enterprises that seek to circumvent our laws by fraudulent means.”

Given that millions of people “circumvent our laws by fraudulent means” by illegally crossing the border every year, it seems likely the Feds were less concerned with dismantling criminal enterprises and more worked up over the “millions of dollars in profits” Benitez’s organization was siphoning away from the federal coffers.

Meanwhile, the defendants appeared on Thursday before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Six of the defendants hail from the Philippines, one is from Brazil, and four are Americans.

The penalty for conspiring to commit marriage fraud includes up to five years in prison, three years supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.

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Todd Jaquith

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6 thoughts on “Eleven charged in large-scale marriage sham operation using fake immigration docs

  1. Prison time and a fine are a good start. Total forfeiture of all assets as being the result of organized criminal activity would be better. All green card holders should be stripped of green cards, deported to home contries and never allowed to enter the country again. The citizen spouses should have their tax returns audited to make sure they reported the extra income and paid the FICA taxes on their self-employment.

  2. I think you mean every marriage since the inbred/hybrid DNA mongoloid forced genetic modification of the planet earth. If your offspring want to run into traffic, it means you should have not procreated…

  3. Marriage fraud? You mean like when Ilhan Omar married her brother so he could get a green card and move to the U.S.? That kind of marriage fraud?

  4. And I guess the Brides and GROOMS will be DEPORTED?? OH – American citizens? NOT ANY MORE!! Strip them and send them away – we have enough scum to go around!

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