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http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/060601chicago.htm

June 01, 2006

Lithuanian national sentenced to 24 months for marriage fraud, alien smuggling

CHICAGO - A Lithuanian man was sentenced in federal court yesterday to two years in prison for his role in a marriage fraud and alien smuggling scheme. This sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Remigijus Adomaitis, 28, of Northbrook, was identified as one of the ringleaders of a criminal organization operating in Chicago and Rockford that recruited and paid U.S. citizens between $8,000 and $10,000 to engage in fraudulent marriages with Lithuanian nationals for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining immigration benefits. At times the U.S. citizens were instructed to travel to Lithuania to marry the foreign national, and other times the U.S. citizens were recruited to marry undocumented Lithuanian nationals already living in the U.S.

Adomaitis pleaded guilty March 8 to three counts of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. In November 2004, Adomaitis, a permanent resident of the U.S., recruited and paid a U.S. citizen to travel to Lithuania to marry a Lithuanian woman he had never met. After the marriage took place, Adomaitis accompanied the U.S. citizen to the U.S. embassy in Warsaw, Poland, to help him file paperwork that allowed the woman to fraudulently enter the U.S. in March 2005 as the wife of a U.S citizen. The U.S citizen was to be paid $1,000 after the marriage, and $250 a month for two to three years.

In March 2005 Adomaitis recruited a U.S. citizen to travel to Lithuania to marry a foreign national for the purpose of committing immigration fraud. As part of the conspiracy, Adomaitis helped the U.S. citizen fill out and file a U.S passport application so that the U.S. citizen could travel to Lithuania. Adomaitis then paid the U.S. citizen $200 for agreeing to marry the foreign national.

Adomaitis and 11 others were the targets of a two-year ICE investigation. Twelve individuals were arrested and indicted by a federal grand jury in September.

“The national security and public safety of our nation depends on an immigration system with integrity,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Elissa A. Brown of the ICE Office of Investigations in Chicago. “ICE is restoring this integrity by aggressively targeting the criminals and human smuggling organizations that are motivated by pure greed and profit.”

This criminal conviction makes Adomaitis eligible for deportation from the U.S. Upon completion of his prison sentence ICE will initiate deportation proceedings against him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet S. Bhachu successfully prosecuted this case.

-- ICE --