Immigration scam leads to 10 marriages for New York woman, prosecutors say
                          By Unknown - Saturday, April 11, 2015
New York (CNN)When Liana Barrientos was 23 years old, she got married in Westchester County, New York.
A year later, she got married again in Westchester County, but to a  different man and without divorcing her first husband.  Only 18 days  after that marriage, she got hitched yet again.  
Then, Barrientos declared "I do" five more times, sometimes only within two weeks of each other.
In  2010, she married once more, this time in the Bronx. In an application  for a marriage license, she stated it was her "first and only" marriage.   

Barrientos,  now 39, is facing two criminal counts of "offering a false instrument  for filing in the first degree," referring to her false statements on  the 2010 marriage license application, according to court documents.  Prosecutors said the marriages were part of an immigration scam. 
On Friday, she pleaded not guilty at State Supreme Court in the Bronx,  according to her attorney, Christopher Wright, who declined to comment  further.
After  leaving court, Barrientos was arrested and charged with theft of  service and criminal trespass for allegedly sneaking into the New York  subway through an emergency exit, said Detective Annette Markowski, a  police spokeswoman. 
In total,  Barrientos has been married 10 times, with nine of her marriages  occurring between 1999 and 2002.  All occurred either in Westchester  County, Long Island, New Jersey or the Bronx. 
She is believed to still be married to four men, and at one time, she was married to eight men at once, prosecutors say.  
Prosecutors  said the immigration scam involved some of her husbands, who filed for  permanent residence status shortly after the marriages.  Any divorces  happened only after such filings were approved. It was unclear whether  any of the men will be prosecuted.
The  case was referred to the Bronx District Attorney's Office by Immigration  and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security's  Investigation Division. Seven of the men are from so-called  "red-flagged" countries, including Egypt, Turkey, Georgia, Pakistan and  Mali. 
Her eighth husband, Rashid  Rajput, was deported in 2006 to his native Pakistan after an  investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
If convicted, Barrientos faces up to four years in prison.  Her next court appearance is scheduled for May 18.  

 
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