Including to a Pakistani, who was eventually deported.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A 39-year-old woman from New York who has married 10 men since 1999 — at one point being married to eight simultaneously — was indicted Friday in a Bronx criminal court on felony and fraud charges.
The Wall Street Journal reported Liana Barrientos was caught when she lied on the application and license for her tenth marriage in March 2010, saying it was her first and only marriage. In fact, she was still married to at least four of the men, prosecutors said.
All of the grooms were foreign nationals, including seven from countries “red-flagged” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Georgia and Mali. Six of the men filed for legal permanent resident status using their marriage to Barrientos; two were approved, and another was deported to Pakistan in 2006 after an investigation found he made threatening statements toward the U.S., prosecutors disclosed.
Despite the trend of targeting foreign nationals, Barrientos has not been implicated on any charges related to immigration fraud. However, the Bronx district attorney’s office told The New York Times that the Department of Homeland Security, which deals with immigration, is “involved” in the case.
According to CBS New York, the first license was filed in 1999 and the subsequent marriages happened happened in rapid succession — sometimes within the same month, prosecutors said.
Barrientos married Mohamed Gerbil in November 1999, Ahmed Allam in November 2001, Habibur Rahman also in November 2001, Davit Koridze in February 2002, Duran Goktepe in March 2002, Aliaksandr Paharelau also in March 2002, Vakhtang Dzneladze in May 2002, Rashid Rajput in July 2002, Kakhaber Khorbaladze in August 2002, and Salle Keita in March 2010.
It is currently unknown where Barrientos’ motivation truly stemmed from. While speaking with CBS, one Brooklyn resident wondered if she is schizophrenic or has multiple personalities.
Barrientos was scheduled for an arraignment Friday morning.