Indicted firms also did legitimate deeds

Federal agents say that some of the dealings of members of Utah's largest marriage visa fraud ring were legitimate.

Last week, federal agents announced that 24 people, mostly naturalized Vietnamese residents living in Utah, were indicted on 79 counts of conspiracy, alien smuggling, marriage fraud and aggravated identity theft.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Salt Lake assistant special agent in charge Joe Romel said some of the services provided by Viet Link Travelling Service and Multi Service Vietnam World Travel, were legitimate.

"My guess is a very small percentage of the (suspects) indicted were involved in legitimate dealings," he said.

ICE Agent Chuck Johnson said the legitimate services included services ranging from assisting people through the immigration process to income tax preparation. Much of the legitimate activity is believed to have been in furtherance of making the fake marriages look real, he said.

Romel said while many of the rings' arranged marriages were found to be fraudulent, investigators are finding that some are real. If that's the case, he said, as long as paperwork was filed with Citizenship and Immigration Services, any visas obtained will stand up. For pending cases, he said, any paperwork filed with federal immigration officials should still be processed.

"If their relationship is legitimate there's nothing to worry about," Romel said. "It doesn't matter who accompanied them (to CIS) at that point."