Fayetteville man sentenced for arranging sham marriages between immigrants, soldiers

Ebenezer Yeboah "Ben" Asane, 37, of Fayetteville, pleaded guilty last August to marriage fraud and conspiracy.

Authorities said Asane, operating from Fort Bragg and his home in Fayetteville, planned and organized the bogus marriages for several foreign nationals from Ghana. The arrangement would provide them with legal residence in the U.S. while giving the soldiers money to live off post instead of in the barracks, authorities said.

Asane recruited other soldiers into the scheme to orchestrate photographs to give the appearance the marriages were legitimate and to submit false statements to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, authorities said. He also attempted to obstruct justice by asking a witness he knew had been called to testify to lie under oath, they said.

It's not the first time such a marriage ring has been investigated at Fort Bragg.