NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Always the bride, never the bridesmaid.
A New York City woman accused of being married to eight men at the same time pleaded not guilty in state court in the Bronx on Friday to two counts of felony fraud that prosecutors say stemmed from a scheme to gain U.S. citizenship for grooms from countries “red flagged” by the Department of Homeland Security.
After Liana Barrientos, 39, married men from Egypt, Turkey, Georgia and other countries, she tied the knot an eighth time with Pakistani man Rashid Rajput, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said.
Rajput was later deported to Pakistan in 2006 following an investigation into making threatening statements about the United States by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
