Feds: Ringleader of area immigration marriage fraud scheme pleads guilty
SACRAMENTO, CA - A Citrus Heights man faces up to 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced after pleading guilty to immigration fraud involving what the U.S. Attorney's Office said was a scheme to allow foreign nationals to come to the U.S. under false marriages.
Federal prosecutors said Sergey Potepalov, 57, was the mastermind of a group of 14 defendants who arranged for foreign nationals from Eastern Europe and Russia to marry U.S. citizens to obtain fiance visas and green cards to be in the U.S. The involved U.S. citizens were paid up to $5,000 to participate in the conspiracy and the foreign nationals paid up to five figures, according to court documents.
The defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, to defraud the United States, to make false statements, and to induce an alien to enter and remain in the United States.
