Sham marriages took place between Portuguese nationals and phoney spouses from Nigeria and Cameroon to help illegal immigrants stay in the UK, a jury has been told.
People who barely knew each other pretended they were in real marriages so non-European Union citizens could get round Britain's immigration laws, it was claimed.
Five people who are alleged to have been involved in sham marriages went on trial yesterday (Thur) at Leicester Crown Court.
Antonio Semedo (41) of Lethbridge Close, Leicester, Blessing Josiah (31) of Biddulph Avenue, Leicester, Michel Essome (41) of Churchill Road, Mountsorrel, Violet Ighomereho (41) of Eastwell Close, Beckenham, Kent and Irene Akinremi (48) of Union Road, Romford, Essex, all deny breaking immigration laws.
Timothy Bowden, prosecuting, told the court that citizens of the European Union (EU) have the right to live and work in this country.
He said other citizens needed visas, but could be given leave to remain by being married - in a genuine relationship - to an EU citizen.
Mr Bowden said the alleged marriage scam was uncovered when a Nigerian student, Michael Olayanju Olayemi, and a Portuguese woman, Sandra Semedo, attempted to get married at Leicester Town Hall in October 2011.
The wedding was stopped by Border Agency Officers and the couple arrested.
Mr Bowden said: "Michel Essome acted as the best man at the wedding and allowed Olayemi to use his address in Leicester."
He said Semedo had flown in from Lisbon for the wedding only days before.
Essome, who is from Cameroon, came to this country and claimed asylum in February 2001, the jury was told.
His application was refused, and in April 2002 he married a Portuguese woman so that he could be granted leave to remain.
At the interrupted Leicester wedding in October 2011, Essome told immigration officers he was with his wife at the ceremony.
However, Mr Bowden said: "It transpired that the woman he said was his Portuguese wife was in fact his sister."
The barrister said another Leicester man, Honorio Semedo, had helped to organise the October 2011 marriage.
He said Ighomereho, who is from Nigeria, married Honorio Semedo at Lewisham Register Office in south east London in December 1998.
Mr Bowden said documents to secure Ighomereho's right to remain were false, as Honorio Semedo was not living with her in London but was in Leicester in a relationship with Ana Goncalves.
Honorio Semedo and Ighomereho were divorced in 2006 and she was subsequently granted British Citizenship.
Mr Bowden told the jury Antonio Semedo, Honorio's brother, was involved in a sham marriage with Irene Akinremi.
When Akinremi applied for leave to remain in June 2004, Antonio Semedo said he was working in London.
But Mr Bowden said the documents were false, as Department of Work and Pensions records said he was living in Aikman Avenue, Leicester, with two dependents.
However, Akinremi and her two children were granted residents status owing to the time they had spent in the country.
Josiah Blessing attempted to marry a Portuguese bride from Lisbon in October 2011 at Nottingham register officer but it was cancelled at the last minute.
He later applied for right to remain using falsified documents claiming he had been married to the woman by proxy in Nigeria.
Mr Bowden said: "No such marriage is possible under Nigerian law."
The trial continues.
