FEDERAL WAY WOMAN CONVICTED OF CONSPIRACY, VISA FRAUD, MONEY LAUNDERING AND CONCEALING AN ILLEGAL ALIEN
Recruited and Paid U.S. Citizens to Enter into Fake Marriages with Cambodian Nationals
VUTHY SIM, 35, of Federal Way, Washington was convicted this morning in U.S. District Court in Seattle of Conspiracy to Commit Visa Fraud, three counts of Visa Fraud, Conspiracy to Engage in Money Laundering, three counts of Money Laundering, and Concealing an Illegal Alien. SIM was convicted following a twelve-day jury trial. The jury deliberated for one day before finding SIM guilty. SIM faces sentencing by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart on April 20, 2009, at 9:00 a.m.
According to testimony at trial and court documents, beginning in approximately June 2002, SIM recruited U.S. citizens to participate in sham marriages with Cambodian nationals. The purpose of the fake marriages was for the Cambodian national to receive a visa to come to the United States and a “green card” to stay here. In furtherance of the scheme, and as directed by SIM, the U.S. citizen would travel to Cambodia and pose in staged engagement or wedding photos with a Cambodian national. SIM typically would prepare the immigration paperwork and have the U.S. citizen sign it, and then would submit the immigration paperwork to Citizenship and Immigration Services. After the Cambodian national arrived in the United States, the Cambodian national and the U.S. citizen would have a civil wedding ceremony, with SIM and a member of her family typically acting as the witnesses at the wedding. SIM would pay the U.S. citizen $20,000 in exchange for the citizen’s participation in the scheme, with the money being paid over time, and the final payment not made until the Cambodian citizen was in the U.S. and had a green card. SIM would pay the U.S. citizen with money that SIM received from the Cambodian national. The evidence at trial showed that SIM profited in excess of $160,000.
The evidence at trial proved that SIM and co-conspirators wired money from Cambodia to SIM’s U.S. bank accounts. SIM then used that money to pay U.S. co-conspirators for their participation in the fake marriages.
SIM also illegally concealed an illegal alien. The evidence showed that SIM sponsored her “mother” to come to the U.S., but the person who used the visa issued to SIM’s mother was, in fact, SIM’s sister. According to a witness at trial, SIM’s sister has fled to Cambodia, rather than risk being arrested by immigration authorities.
“Today’s guilty verdict is a reminder that America's legal immigration system is not for sale,” said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in Seattle.” ICE will aggressively investigate those who seek to compromise the integrity of that system simply for personal profit.”
To date, thirteen other individuals have been convicted of crimes relating to the visa fraud scheme.
Conspiracy to Commit Visa Fraud is punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of five years in prison; Visa Fraud is punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of fifteen years in prison; Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering and Money Laundering are punishable by a maximum term of twenty years in prison; and Concealing an Illegal Alien is punishable by a maximum term of five years in prison.
The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID).
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Karyn Johnson and Ye-Ting Woo.
For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.
