Jamaican National Indicted in North Carolina Marriage Fraud Case
A 26-year-old Jamaican national living in Charlotte has been federally indicted in a case that ties together immigration fraud, false statements, and a claimed misuse of veterans benefits. Prosecutors say Britney Sherene Curry overstayed a tourist visa, entered into a fake marriage, and then used that fraudulently obtained status to push for U.S. citizenship and other benefits.
According to the case, Curry entered the United States on a six-month B-2 tourist visa on August 27, 2015. She allegedly stayed long after that visa expired. Rather than leave the country, prosecutors say she paid a third party to arrange a fraudulent marriage to a U.S. citizen.
The Justice Department says Curry and the man she listed as her husband met for the first time on their wedding day. They never lived together before or after the marriage. That detail matters because the marriage was used to support her immigration paperwork and move her toward lawful permanent resident status.
Once she had that status, Curry was able to enlist in the U.S. Army. That opened the door to naturalization much faster than usual. Prosecutors say she lied under oath on immigration forms about the marriage being real. After becoming a citizen, she even filed paperwork to help her mother get lawful permanent resident status.
The case did not stop there. Less than two years after joining the Army, Curry received a medical discharge. She later applied for VA disability compensation and allegedly listed the same sham husband as a dependent to increase her monthly payment, even though the two never lived together and had not seen each other since before she joined the military.
The Justice Department laid out the possible penalties in plain terms: “Under federal statutes, Curry is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud and mail fraud charges, up to 10 years in prison on some of the immigration charges, and faces the possibility of being denaturalized. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.”
If convicted, Curry could face prison time, denaturalization, and the loss of any benefits tied to the alleged fraud. For prosecutors, the case is a straightforward one. They say the marriage was fake from the start, and the paperwork followed the lie.