A public official in Arizona has been arrested in connection with charges that he ran a multimillion-dollar scheme smuggling pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to profit from their newborn babies.https://t.co/YGr5QWX42a

— NPR (@NPR) October 10, 2019

Authorities say Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen’s fraudulent adoption enterprise left a trail of forged documents and violated U.S. and international laws.

Petersen operates an adoption law firm. For years, he has connected American families seeking to adopt with women from the Marshall Islands — but state and federal prosecutors say Petersen falsified documents and lied about the mothers’ residency so he could enrich himself.