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Liana Barrientos, a NYC woman who married ten men without getting divorced from some of them, currently risks sitting up to four years behind bars for providing false information to authorities when she filed for the marriages licenses.
Her husbands were from countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Czechosloviakia, and Mali. According to Bronx DA’s Office’s official statement, the woman tied the knot with them to help them obtain their green cards. She was also paid for her “services.”
Authorities said Friday that the serial bride married ten foreign men from high-risk countries including a Pakistani who was deported from the U.S. for threatening the U.S. authorities.
Rashid Rajput, who married Ms. Barrientos on July 22, 2002 in Mamaroneck and was her eighth husband, was deported by U.S. authorities in 2006 after the Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted an investigation on his threatening statements against the U.S. government. Mr. Rajput requested legal permanent residence shortly after the marriage.
On Friday, Ms. Barrientos, 39, made a brief appearance in Bronx Supreme Court to face two counts of felony charges because she had offered altered information for filing.
The blonde-haired woman was dressed in jeans and a cowl-neck sweater and had a wedding ring on her left hand. She pleaded not guilty to all charges. Both she and her lawyer declined to comment.
Although prosecution said that there was no clear motive, other sources claim that she did it for the money.
On May 24, 2002, when she married Vakhtang Dzneladze, a Georgian man desperately looking to obtain a green card, she was paid to provide personal info and photos he needed for his interview with the immigration office.
According to the Assistant District Attorney, the woman acknowledged marrying Vato, as she nicknamed Mr. Dzneladze, but also said that she didn’t remember other details.
Moreover, according to court papers, the woman said that her 2010 marriage to Salle Keita was her “first and only marriage.” This statement was made earlier last year, but in October she told investigators that she also married Mr. Dzneladze. However, she denied that she was involved in other marriages.
“I married him for money, but … he never passed the interview. During the time of the marriage, I was strung out on drugs including cocaine,”
Ms. Barrientos told police. However, the man eventually received his green card.
She also told police officers that she had two children, one of them with Mr. Keita and the other with an unidentified man whom she didn’t marry.
She married Mr. Keita in 2010, who is her tenth husband. The woman said that she only recalled marrying him and Mr. Dzenladze. She also explained that in past she was struggling with drug addiction so she didn’t remember much from that period.
She divorced only from six of her husbands, after some of them received their permanent residency permit. However, she is still officially married to four of them. Only Mr. Dzneladze and her husband no.9 Kakhaber Khorbaladze were granted green cards, although six of them applied for them.
Ms. Barrientos filed the marriage licenses between 1999 and 2010, and use altered forms of her name on them.
Image Source: News.com.au
Deborah Nielsen
Deborah Nielsen never thought she could be a journalist and a good one, we might add. Having a strong passion for music, she started singing at an early age, but it was only in college that she formed her first band. Her music education won her a job as a news reporter at the local radio station as well as the chance of meeting her favorite artists. In 2013, Deborah took things forward by starting her own blog and contributing to various news related websites. Currently, she covers a broad area of subjects and topics from various fields.
