Thread: New York marriage scam trial opens

New York marriage scam trial opens
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 7, 8:58 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070808/ap_ ... hWIc9Quk0A

Hundreds of people not entitled to stay in the United States won permanent residency through a sophisticated scam that relied on a corrupt former U.S. immigration official, a prosecutor said at the start of a trial Tuesday.

In the scheme, U.S. citizens were paid to marry someone who otherwise could not qualify for permanent residency, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Wong said. She accused the defendant, Peter Absolam, of being a salesman who helped people obtain immigration documents "based on fraud and deceit and lies."

"Some met their spouse only once, some not at all," Wong said.

Prosecutors said immigrants paid up to $16,000 to participate.

Through FBI recordings and the work of an informant, investigators learned how elaborate the scam was, relying on a financial and legal aid business owned by Beverly Mozer-Browne and the help of her brother, Phillip A. Browne, a former U.S. immigration office worker, she said.

Browne, a district adjudication officer for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office before he resigned in November 2005, eased approval of phony applications by generating green cards without the required interview, prosecutors said.

Of the 29 people originally charged in the case, 24 have pleaded guilty.

Browne and Mozer-Browne have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Wong said Absolam's role in the scheme was discovered when one of his potential customers reported it to government investigators, leading to a charge of conspiracy to obtain immigration documents by false pretenses.

Absolam's conversations with the customer were recorded, forming the basis of the case against him and demonstrating that the fraud from April 2001 through November 2005 produced as much as $1 million in proceeds from fees paid by immigrants, Wong said.

The FBI listened in as Mozer-Browne described the scam in detail to the informant and to Absolam, Wong said.

"The defendant was caught red handed," she told the jury.

Absolam lawyer Ellyn I. Bank told jurors they will have to decide whether her client was a knowing participant in a fraud.

She said Absolam has worked for four years for an organization for troubled youths. She challenged jurors to try to discover the motives of the government informant.

Absolam could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

There is a fed law against marrying JUST to get citizenship. Therefore, every person who married through this scam cheated and should be deported.

Amen to that!