Six people charged in Massachusetts fraud ring that arranged sham marriages for illegal immigrants

Gonzalez was arrested on Wednesday, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. Gonzalez allegedly ran a business in which illegal immigrants paid for the sham marriages and then submitted applications to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to obtain legal immigration status. Gonzalez then paid the other defendants to engage in one or more marriages to these “customers.”

The operation averaged roughly 18 to 20 sham marriages per year and charged between $38,000 and $40,000 for each one. Gonzalez is accused of earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year over the last decade. She then used the proceeds to buy businesses and real estate in the Dominican Republic, which she referred to as “my country.”

“It is alleged that Gonzalez instructed her illegal alien customers about how to establish the appearance of a legitimate marriage, including setting up life insurance policies and joint bank accounts and taking selfie-style pictures as a married couple,” the attorney’s office said in a press release. “Gonzalez allegedly told her illegal alien customers that it would take three to four months to prepare sufficient documentation of the sham marriage to use to apply for immigration status and required her customers to sign ‘contracts’ to pay for her services.”

Court documents revealed that Gonzalez was captured on video and audio recordings directing the printing and signing of a disguised “loan” contract and accepting a cash down payment for a sham marriage. She explained that the contract intentionally omitted references to the spouse because doing so would be “incriminating.”

Customers allegedly made ongoing monthly payments of $500 to their assigned “spouses” or someone close to that spouse to maintain the sham marriage. The defendants took photographs at wedding ceremonies and social outings with their sham spouses to use when applying for immigration status.

The Justice Department also alleged that multiple defendants lied on Massachusetts SNAP benefit applications by falsely claiming they had never been married, even while filing federal immigration petitions on behalf of the clients. Gonzalez allegedly received and spent over $120,000 in SNAP benefits while operating the scheme and purchasing property in the Dominican Republic.

Harboring illegal immigrants and conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants each carry potential penalties of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Marriage fraud and conspiracy to commit marriage fraud each carry potential penalties of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.