POSSIBLE FRAUD RING FOR SHAM MARRIAGES

UNCLAS DAKAR 002065 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR CA/FPP DEPT PLS PASS TO DHS/USCIS PARIS FOR DHS/ICE ECOWAS POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS KFRD SG SUBJECT: POSSIBLE FRAUD RING FOR SHAM MARRIAGES ¶1. (SBU) Post's Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) suspects that Mishel M. Kamara, a tax preparer in Maryland, may be arranging sham marriages between low income Amcits and Sierra Leoneans solely for the purpose of illegal immigration. Kamara works for MMK Tax Services LLC, 9420 Annapolis RS, Suite 202, Lanham, MD 20706, Tel: (301) 731-4105. ¶2. (SBU) While investigating two separate IR1 cases, the FPU noted the following similarities between the cases that are unlikely to be coincidental: a) Both petitioners employed Mishal M. Kamara, with MMK Tax Services LLC, to prepare their income tax returns. b) Kamara or someone linked to Kamara introduced the petitioners to their Sierra Leonean husbands. c) Both petitioners are single parents who had extremely low incomes that increased dramatically over a period of three years until they met the threshold level required for the Affidavit of Support (AOS) in 2004, the year the petitions were filed. d) Both petitioners started working for the same company, Personal Nursing Care Agency, after they met their husbands. e) Both petitioners obtained their first U.S. passports a few months before traveling to Sierra Leone to marry husbands they had not previously met. Both petitioners left Sierra Leone shortly after their weddings and have not seen their husbands since. f) Both petitioners were married by Bishop Baughman at the United Methodist Church of the Parish of St. Georges in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The marriages took place one day apart, and the marriage certificates were registered at the same time. ¶3. (SBU) Post suspects that Kamara has arranged these sham marriages for the sole purpose of immigration. While Post plans to conduct in-depth interviews of both husbands, one of the husbands has already failed to appear for a scheduled interview. Since Kamara's connection can be detected only through petitioner's tax returns, it is difficult to identify additional cases that he may have facilitated. ¶4. (SBU) Post requests that CA/FPP and NVC take appropriate action to investigate whether Kamara is arranging additional sham marriages solely for the purpose of facilitating illegal immigration. JACOBS