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 A New York City woman accused of being married to eight men at the
same time pleaded not guilty in state court in the Bronx on Friday
to two counts of felony fraud that prosecutors say stemmed from a
scheme to gain U.S. citizenship for grooms from countries "red
flagged" by the Department of Homeland Security.
After Liana Barrientos, 39, married men from Egypt, Turkey, Georgia
and other countries, she tied the knot an eighth time with Pakistani
man Rashid Rajput, the Bronx District Attorney's Office said.
Rajput was later deported to Pakistan in 2006 following an
investigation into making threatening statements about the United
States by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
agency's Joint Terrorism Task Force.
ICE, part of the Department of Homeland Security, tags certain
countries with red flags as part of efforts to prevent "illegal
export of sensitive U.S. munitions and strategic technology" and
protect "American technological accomplishment from adversaries,"
according to the State Department.
"Not guilty," said Barrientos, sporting a ring on her left hand and
shaking her head as she faced a judge during her arraignment.
The blonde woman got married as many as six times in a single year,
in 2002, according to the criminal complaint.
Assistant District Attorney Jessica Lupo said Barrientos is still
married to four men. When investigators asked her about her marriage
to husband Vakhtang Dzneladze of Georgia as he sought U.S.
residency, Barrientos admitted "receiving money for those actions,"
Lupo said.
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As soon as the wedding bells stopped ringing, seven husbands filed
for legal permanent resident status, Lupo said.
"When some of them were denied, they filed for divorce immediately
and re-filed for their immigration status with other marriages," she
said.
Barrientos was arrested last November after forms she filed in New
York City in 2010 for a marriage license with Salle Keita from Mali
raised suspicions. A District Attorney's Office investigator found a
trove of marriage certificates tying her to multiple other husbands
in various towns across New York state.
Barrientos had stated on the 2010 forms that Keita was her first and
only husband, and that statement prompted the two felony counts of
offering a false instrument for filing, each punishable by up to
four years in prison if convicted.
(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Barbara Goldberg and Will Dunham)
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