Fraudsters sentenced for operating ‘large-scale’ marriage ruse to get green cards for 600 migrants
Four fraudsters caught operating a large-scale marriage fraud “agency” — setting up sham marriages to help over 600 migrants bypass immigration laws and obtain green cards — were sentenced this week for the scam in federal court in Boston.
The group of scammers, all Philippine nationals living in Los Angeles, were charged with marriage fraud and immigration document fraud for recruiting American citizens to marry the agency’s clients, staging “hundreds of sham marriages” in exchange for cash, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said.
Authorities said Marcialito Biol Benitez, 50, ran the so-called “agency” out of brick-and-mortar offices in Los Angeles and would rely on his co-conspirators to recruit Americans to wed the agency’s clients.
The agency would then stage fake wedding ceremonies with hired online officiants — and took “photos of undocumented clients and citizen spouses in front of prop wedding decorations for later submission with immigration petitions,” the attorney’s office said.
Benitez and his co-conspirators would also help the phony couples prepare to pass interviews with immigration authorities and “advised clients about creating and maintaining the appearance of legitimate marriage to their spouses,” the attorney’s office said.
The scam marriages and adjustment of clients’ immigration status would cost between $20,000 and $35,000 in cash.
Authorities said Benitez’s agency would also help some clients whose fake spouses became unresponsive or uncooperative by obtaining green cards under the Violence Against Women Act, claiming the undocumented client had been abused by their American spouse.
Benitez and his co-conspirators were charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud in March and immigration document fraud in April 2022, the attorney’s office said.
Benitez was sentenced Thursday to 22 months in prison and three years’ supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2023.
Co-conspirator Juanita Pacson, 48, was sentenced to two years of supervised release with the first four months on home detention after also pleading guilty in September 2023.
Engilbert Ulan, 43, was sentenced last Wednesday to 14 months in prison and three years’ supervised release. He was convicted by a federal jury in November 2023.
Another member of the operation, Nino Valmeo, 47, was sentenced to three years of supervised release with the first six months on home confinement in January after he pleaded guilty to the charges in August.
It was not immediately clear if any similar operations were recently discovered in New York.
The US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, did not return The Post’s request for comment.
