US court sentences 4 Pinoys over large-scale marriage fraud --- By DAVE LLAVANES JR.

NEW YORK—Four Filipinos, all residents of Los Angeles, California, have been sentenced by a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, for orchestrating a large-scale marriage fraud scheme. Marcialito Benitez, 50, Juanita Pacson, 48, Engilbert Ulan, 43, and Nino Valmeo, 43, were convicted of conspiring to arrange fraudulent marriages, helping hundreds of undocumented immigrants in obtaining legal status in the United States. Benitez was sentenced on March 7, 2024, by US District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 22 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in September 2023. Pacson was sentenced on the same day to two years of supervised release, with the first four months to be served on home detention, after previously pleading guilty in September 2023. Ulan was sentenced on March 6, 2024 to 14 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was convicted by a federal jury in November 2023. Valmeo was sentenced on January 11, 2024 to three years of supervised release, with the first six months on home confinement, after pleading guilty in August 2023. Court records reveal that the four Filipinos colluded to arrange sham marriages in exchange for sums ranging from $20,000 to $35,000 USD. They allegedly submitted falsified documents to facilitate the processing of work permits and green cards for their clients. Benitez's agency was found to have orchestrated fraudulent marriages and submitted counterfeit immigration documents for at least 600 clients between October 2016 and March 2022. Several co-defendants were previously sentenced for their involvement in the scheme. Peterson Souza, who referred non-citizens to the agency for a fee, received a five-month prison sentence and three years of supervised release, with the first five months on home detention. Felipe David, who referred clients to the agency for assistance with VAWA-based applications, was sentenced to three years of supervised release. —NB, GMA Integrated News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Russia captures town after 2 years of Ukrainian resistance --- Reuters

Russian forces now control 98.5% of Luhansk, 60% of Donetsk MOSCOW: Russian troops on Wednesday took charge of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Russia launched its full-scale assault in 2022. The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it. Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops and "preserve personnel and military equipment". The Russian defense ministry did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report. Russian Telegram channels, however, published video of troops waving the Russian tricolor flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era
Read more

Vietnam condemns China's 'brutal behavior' in fisher attack ---- Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishers in the disputed South China Sea. The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands -- an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Vietnam "resolutely protests the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam", foreign ministry spokesperson Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, using the Vietnamese term for the Paracel Islands. "The above actions of Chinese law enforcement forces seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty" over the archipelago, the statement said. Four of the Vietnamese crew were taken to hospital on Monday
Read more