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Jed Boal ReportingFederal lawmen today busted what they call the biggest fraudulent marriage ring ever in Utah, and possibly the biggest in the nation. It was a scheme that illegally brought as many as 100 Vietnamese to the US.
The 74 page indictment was unsealed today in Federal Court. In it is the blueprint for a marriage fraud scheme masterminded here along the Wasatch Front. The US Attorney says it generated hundreds of thousand of dollars and compromised national security.
It's the worst kind of arranged marriage, a threat to National Security, motivated by greed. That's how federal authorities characterized a sophisticated marriage scheme that enabled Vietnamese men and women to get into the US and dodge US immigration laws.
Brett Tolman, U.S. Attorney for Utah: "Clearly we want to disrupt this kind of crime. It's a method of illegal immigration that may have terrible results."
After an 18-month investigation called Morning Glory, the indictment charges two dozen suspects with conspiracy, alien smuggling, aggravated identity theft and visa fraud. It was masterminded by five organizers and 19 assistants who helped with everything from recruiting, to paperwork to trips to Vietnam, most of them naturalized US Citizens.
Charles DeMore, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: "Driven by greed and their own financial gain, they put your national security at risk."
Here's how it worked. The organizers recruited U-S Citizens and paid them up to ten thousand dollars to travel to Vietnam. The organizers traveled with the recruits to Vietnam where the Americans fictitiously married or got engaged with Vietnamese Nationals, who paid 30-thousand dollars for the fraudulent marriage and paperwork.
In order to make it look legit, the American and Vietnamese held ceremonies and took pictures in Vietnam to make the union look authentic, to look like love. The couple would return to the US and get coaching in order to pass the mandatory interviews with Immigration.
There were 80 to 100 marriages in about five years.
More charges are likely as investigators continue to unravel the case.
Mario Ortiz, Denver District Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service: "It's about hundreds of people lying about the most central relationship, just to get something they don't deserve."
Federal authorities say they have seen similar operations in Seattle, San Francisco and other cities. This, they say, could be the largest.
The investigation is NOT complete; as they unravel the web further, they may make more arrests.
