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Benitez’s employees would take the fake spouses to clothing stores to “select suitable outfits for wedding ceremonies,” prosecutors said, and Ulan assisted with booking the couples’ marriage ceremony appointments.

One client, a foreign national residing in Massachusetts, paid $100 to Ulan monthly for using his address on immigration and other official documents, federal prosecutors said.

It was a midsummer day in 2021 when Engilbert Ulan met with a newlywed couple in Los Angeles to help them prepare for questions they expected to face from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Ulan, 42, was convicted last week by a federal jury in Boston of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud.

“The evidence as I saw it painted Mr. Ulan as a hardworking man who came to the United States looking for a better life, and who took the opportunity to help support his family back in the Philippines,” Simons said.