United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

NEW BRITAIN WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL MARRIAGE FRAUD CHARGES

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that HUN SIV, 42, of Garry Drive, New Britain, pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey in New Haven to one count of marriage fraud, and aiding and abetting.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, in 2006, SIV, a naturalized U.S. citizen, recruited a woman with whom she worked to enter into a fraudulent marriage with a Cambodian national in exchange for $7,000 in cash.  SIV then organized all of the necessary paperwork and paid all of the required expenses for the woman to obtain a U.S. passport, a visa to travel to Cambodia, and an airline ticket for her travel to Cambodia.  SIV also provided the woman with several hundred dollars in cash to permit the woman to purchase personal items for the trip.  Once in Cambodia, SIV paid all of the woman’s expenses, took her and the Cambodian national she was to marry to execute the required Affidavit of Intent to Marry, and transported the woman to and from the marriage ceremony, which occurred on May 5, 2006.

The woman SIV recruited met her Cambodian spouse just prior to the wedding ceremony, and she has not seen or spoken to him since her departure from Cambodia on May 7, 2006.  The spouse was never able to enter the United States.

Judge Dorsey has scheduled sentencing for September 5, 2008, at which time SIV faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.

SIV has been released on bond with electronic monitoring since her December 2007 arrest.

This case has been investigated by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security Service; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship Immigration Services; the Connecticut State Police, Central Criminal Intelligence Unit; the New Britain Police Department, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Deborah R. Slater.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov