Federal prosecutors charged six people on Wednesday in Massachusetts in a sham marriage scheme that authorities say helped immigrants unlawfully pursue green cards and potential US citizenship. US attorney Leah Foley said the case reaches back about 12 years and involved hundreds of marriages arranged for immigration purposes.
Foley said the operation generated more than $6 million in profits and averaged about 18 to 20 fraudulent marriages a year. She said the investigation remains active, with possible future charges for anyone found to have obtained legal status through the scheme.
Jennifer Gonzalez and the alleged ring
Foley identified Jennifer Gonzalez as the alleged mastermind. Gonzalez allegedly helped organize sham marriages over a decade in Massachusetts and told a cooperating witness posing as a client that her group helped obtain hundreds of permanent resident cards for undocumented noncitizens living in Massachusetts.
Gonzalez allegedly charged between $38,000 and $40,000 for marriages to US citizens. Foley said Gonzalez entered such a marriage herself, used money from the scheme to buy property in the Dominican Republic, and obtained Snap food benefits from Massachusetts without listing any income from the operation.
Boston briefing from Foley
During a press conference in Boston, Foley said Gonzalez was “operating with impunity under the last administration.” She also said, “The American dream is not for sale. It is earned. And when you try to pilfer it for profit, we will hold you accountable.”
The charges add six names to one of the latest marriage-fraud cases brought by the US Department of Justice. Prosecutors said the arrangement was built around marriages between US citizens and immigrants seeking legal status, a structure that allowed the alleged organizers to charge for each pairing and scale the scheme across years.
The next step is the ongoing investigation Foley described in Boston. Anyone tied to the alleged scheme and found to have obtained legal status through it could still face charges as prosecutors continue to sort out who participated, who arranged the marriages, and who benefited from them.
