PH national pleads guilty to large-scale US immigration fraud

Marcialito Biol Benitez, a.k.a “Mars,” 49, a Philippine national residing in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud | Screengrab from CBS News

Boston – A Filipino from California pleaded guilty Sept. 27 in federal court in Boston to running a large-scale marriage fraud “agency” that arranged hundreds of sham marriages to circumvent immigration laws. This included, among other things,  obtaining green cards under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by claiming the undocumented clients had been abused by alleged American spouses.

Marcialito Biol Benitez, a.k.a “Mars,” 49, a Philippine national residing in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud. US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for Jan. 10, 2024. Benitez was arrested and charged in April 2022.

Benitez operated what he and others referred to as an “agency” that arranged hundreds of sham marriages between foreign national “clients” and US citizens, including at least one foreign national who resided in Massachusetts. The agency then prepared and submitted false petitions, applications, and other documents to substantiate the sham marriages and secure adjustment of clients’ immigration statuses for a fee of between $20,000 and $35,000 in cash.

Photo from USDOJ

Benitez operated the agency out of brick-and-mortar offices in Los Angeles, where he employed his co-conspirators as staff. Among other things, Benitez’s staff allegedly assisted with arranging marriages, submitting fraudulent marriage and immigration documents for the agency’s clients — including false tax returns as well as recruiting US citizens to marry the agency’s clients in exchange for payment.

After pairing foreign national clients with citizen spouses, Benitez’s agency staged fake wedding ceremonies at chapels, parks, and other locations, performed by hired online officiants. For many clients, the agency would take photos of undocumented clients and citizen spouses in front of prop wedding decorations for later submission with immigration petitions.

Benitez’s agency then submitted fraudulent, marriage-based immigration petitions to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency responsible for granting lawful permanent resident status.

Benitez’s agency coached clients and spouses through interviews with USCIS and advised clients about maintaining the appearance of legitimate marriage to their spouses. Benitez’s agency arranged sham marriages and submitted fraudulent immigration documents for at least 600 clients between October 2016 and March 2022.

Benitez’s agency would assist certain clients — typically those whose spouses became unresponsive or uncooperative — with obtaining green cards under VAWA by claiming the undocumented clients had been abused by alleged American spouses. Specifically, the agency would submit fraudulent applications on clients’ behalf for temporary restraining orders against spouses based on fabricated domestic violence allegations.

Benitez’s agency would then submit the restraining order documentation along with immigration petitions to USCIS, in order to take advantage of VAWA provisions that permit non-citizen victims of spousal abuse to apply for lawful permanent resident status without their spouses’ involvement.

Benitez is the seventh defendant to plead guilty in this case.