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Visa Fraud

When things like this happen it is the reason our situations become so much more complicated. Although it was Canada I am sure it has been happening in the US also and is why we are put through the hoops in this process:

Visa fraud defendants will face charges of money laundering
Two Vancouver residents are among five people indicted for arranging bogus weddings
Thursday, June 02, 2005

VANCOUVER -- Two Vancouver residents, already indicted for visa fraud related to arranging sham foreign marriages, will be arraigned Friday in a federal court for money laundering.

A federal grand jury in Seattle indicted Steve Nguyen, 42; Loc Huu Nguyen, 38; and three other Washington residents Friday on charges of laundering $35,000 from the proceeds of their wedding sham enterprise, according to information from the U.S. Attorney's office in Tacoma.

The indictment for conspiracy to commit money laundering alleges that Steve Nguyen; Loc Huu Nguyen; and Lynwood residents Monica Nguyen, 30; Everett Ledbetter, 34; and Amanda Thao Nguyen, 28, transported money from the United States to Vietnam to promote their wedding scheme.

The five were indicted in December for conspiracy to commit visa fraud along with Richard Earl Andersen, 35, of Seattle. They are accused of arranging bogus weddings between U.S. and Vietnamese residents as a way to bring Vietnamese immigrants into the country illegally.

Authorities said the group, which found willing recruiters through casinos and card rooms in Washington, paid as many as 130 U.S. citizens between $500 and $1,500 to write love letters and travel for free to Vietnam to take photos with their sham fiances and fiancees.

Those posing as brides and grooms paid $20,000 to $30,000 to the organizers to set up the partnership, which allowed them to acquire a nonimmigrant visa into the United States, according to the indictment. The operation is thought to have reached from Seattle to Vancouver.

In one case, noted in the indictment, three people from Clark County, named only as Dustin, Emily and Alex, traveled from Portland to Vietnam. Later, Dustin was asked to write 10 fraudulent letters of affection for his purported fiancee and send photographs of himself.

The recruiters and sham brides- and grooms-to-be were told to say they met through friends at an engagement party.

Several federal and state agencies, including the IRS and Washington State Gambling Commission, worked jointly on the case, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Combined, the two charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.

By Brians on Jun 3, 2005, 06:01 in Visa & paperwork.