Immigration scammers arrested in California
A California husband, wife and daughter have been arrested for arranging fake marriages for immigration purposes, according to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Their immigration services company MPEagle Consultants allegedly charged people with visas $60,000 to arrange sham marriages using faked photos of people in different clothes and at different locations to suggest a relationship and even used the same witness names and same names of U.S. citizen spouses for several different faked marriages.
Immigration scammers weren’t very good
The head of ICE’s homeland security investigations in Orange Country said, “They were just recycling marriage certificates. They were even using the same witnesses, a couple of applications had the same spouse. It just got to the point where they didn’t care. They thought they were just kind of above the law.”
The pattern was easy to spot for ICE officials, who started investigating. The U.S. citizens who were listed as spouses in the sham marriages were usually homeless and offered a few thousand dollars, but not always completely paid.
Those who participated in these marriages have not been met with any charges – yet. But because the investigation is ongoing, it’s more than likely they will eventually face some serious charges and not only have their immigration plans seriously derailed – but also be out up to $60,000.
Intake
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
