A former state legislator was sentenced Wednesday to 13 months in prison and three years of supervised release for aiding and abetting visa and marriage fraud and making false statements.
Adam Mack, 39, of Portland, pleaded guilty in March to immigration fraud for his role in a scheme to allow women from Russia and Ukraine to stay in the U.S. illegally, and arranging a sham green card wedding.
Mack was also sentenced to four months in prison for violating the terms of supervised release imposed on him after a 2013 federal conviction for equity skimming, according to a release by U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Mack filed paperwork between 2009 and 2011 with the federal government saying a woman from Russia and another from Ukraine worked for him, but they didn’t. The documents were used to obtain visas for the women allowing them to remain and work in this country.
Mack also helped arrange a fake marriage in Cape Elizabeth between one of the women, Mariia Shevchenko, and Christopher Segal, who was paid by Shevchenko. The court papers do not say how much Segal was to receive, though he did receive one installment of $800.
Mack helped the couple prepare for their interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but during the interview, Segal confessed that the wedding was a sham.
In imposing sentence, Judge D. Brock Hornby said, “You have been cheating the system all along consistently. It’s the deterrence, both general and specific, and just punishment that I think are critical.”
Mack, a Republican who represented Standish from 1998 to 2000, previously was convicted of misusing federal funds in connection with a property management company he owned. He was ordered to serve six months in prison and repay $384,000 in restitution to the federal government. That fine contributed to his filing in December for bankruptcy protection.
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