A man from Vancouver, Wash., was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to three years of probation and a $1,000 fine for conspiracy to commit visa fraud.
Matthew L. Coates, 31, is one of 30 people identified by law enforcement as having accepted trips and cash to travel to Vietnam to pose as fiance as part of a visa fraud conspiracy.
Prosecutors said Phuoc Nguyen, 43, of Vancouver, recruited Coates and gave him a $1,000 plane ticket to Vietnam.
Prosecutors also said Nguyen's brother, 40-year-old Loc Nguyen, arranged for Coates to be paid an additional $10,000 cash by his fake fiance's uncle to complete a sham marriage in June 2003.
The marriage allowed Coates' Vietnamese fiance would get permanent residency in the U.S.
Coates must forfeit $11,500 to the U.S. government as proceeds of his crime.
