'SHAM NUPS' BREAKUP
By KATI CORNELL
August 1, 2007 -- The feds have busted five members of a sham-wedding ring that paired hundreds of illegal aliens with U.S. citizens - and then orchestrated equally bogus divorces - in an immigration-fraud scheme, authorities said yesterday.

Vladimir Bararushkin, Tea Sanchez and three cohorts allegedly charged aliens up to $15,000 each to land a spouse and permanent-resident status between 2002 and 2007.

The newlyweds were instructed to open joint bank accounts, take photos together and get to know each other "to make it appear that their marriage was genuine," according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court yesterday.


In at least one case, Bararushkin allegedly instructed an illegal alien who had entered into a bogus marriage on how to dissolve the union without jeopardizing her citizenship prospects - by claiming she had been abused.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08012007/ne ... ornell.htm