BANGOR, Maine (AP) A Nepalese man has told federal court that he paid a Maine woman to marry him so he could stay in the country.

Twenty-nine-year-old Eilove Shrestha made the statement in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Monday. He lives in Cupertino, California, and entered his plea in advance of a trial that had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The Bangor Daily News reports Shrestha pleaded guilty to counts of marriage fraud and conspiring to commit marriage fraud. He’s free on $5,000 bail, and his sentencing date had not been set as of Tuesday.

Shrestha’s attorney, Verne Paradie of Lewiston, says his client thought that pursuing a trial reduced his odds of deportation but now understands he ran the risk of a longer sentence by refusing to accept responsibility.