After pairing foreign national clients with citizen spouses, Benitez and his staff allegedly staged fake wedding ceremonies at chapels, parks and other locations, performed by hired online officiants.
For many clients, the agency would take photos of undocumented clients and citizen spouses in front of prop wedding decorations for later submission with immigration petitions, according to prosecutors.
Benitez and his co-conspirators would allegedly also assist certain clients -- typically those whose spouses became unresponsive or uncooperative --with obtaining green cards under the Violence Against Women Act by claiming the undocumented clients had been abused by alleged American spouses, prosecutors said.