10 Busted in Sham Marriage Scheme


Connecticut residents got paid to marry Moroccan nationals, investigators said.


By Bob Connors

Friday, Oct 7, 2011 | Updated 7:29 AM EDT



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Ten people in Connecticut have been charged with setting up fraudulent marriages to help Moroccan nationals come into the United States.

Federal Homeland Security agents began an investigation into the marriage scheme in November, 2010.

According to court documents, Fouad Elhadiri, of Waterbury, arranged a fraudulent marriage between his brother, a Moroccan citizen, and Stacey Brooks, of New Haven.

Brooks received several thousand dollars in 2007 and a trip to Morocco in exchange for marrying Elhadiri's brother, according to U.S. Attorney David Fein.

During the immigration process, Brooks allegedly provided letters claiming a long-term online relationship between the two. She even showed pictures from her trip to Morocco as proof that the couple had a relationship, Fein said.

Brooks married Elhadiri's brother in New Haven in May 2008, but never saw her husband again after the day of the wedding, according to court documents.

Federal investigators said the alleged scheme went on for more than 12 years with others involved.

Bahija Saadoun, of West Haven, is accused of entering into a sham wedding in 1999. Investigators said she also helped arrange marriages between her brother, Rachid Saadoun, and Ebony Kashann Jaynes, of New Haven, as well as arranging a fraudulent marriage between her sister, Fatima Saadoun, and Gino Kousa, of Bridgeport.

Also arrested were Khalid Kassem and Dawn Peck, of Madison, charged with entering into a sham marriage that Bahija Saadoun set up, investigators said. Saadoun's second husband, Hamid Kassem, was also charged with helping to orchestrate the marriage.

Brooks, Peck and Jaynes all took money and a trip to Morocco in exchange for marrying the foreign nationals, investigators said

All of the suspects face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/131293359.html