PORTLAND, Maine — A former state legislator admitted in U.S. District Court on Monday to being part of a marriage fraud scheme.
Adam Mack, 40, of Portland pleaded guilty to one count each of aiding and abetting visa and marriage fraud and making false statements, according to a press release issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to court records, between October 2009 and January 2012, Mack unlawfully assisted foreign nationals from Russia and Ukraine who were seeking to become lawful permanent residents or green card holders by engaging in marriage and visa fraud, the press release said.
Mack served in the Maine House as the Republican representative for Standish, Frye Island and Limington from 1997 to 2000, according to a previously published report.
By pleading guilty Monday, he also admitted making false statements about his employment of foreign nationals to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“Those in a public position of trust have a civic obligation to hold themselves beyond reproach,” Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations New England, said. “Each and every marriage fraud scheme corrupts the integrity and fairness of our nation’s immigration system and is all the more egregious when a public servant is found to be complicit in that corruption.”
He was convicted in April 2013 of misusing about $384,000 in funds held by his grandfather’s property management firm, DACO Associates, as collateral for a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan of $1.1 million to acquire the Topsham-based Barron’s Hill I low-income housing complex.
He was sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $384,000 in restitution, according to a previously published report.
Mack was released from federal prison in November 2013, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate locator website.
Mack faces up to 10 years in prison on the visa fraud charges and up to five years on the marriage fraud and false statement charges. He also faces fines of up to $250,000 on each charge.
A sentencing date has not been set.