Six people in Massachusetts are facing charges over a marriage fraud ring involving up to 20 sham marriages designed to help foreign nationals obtain legal status.
Jennifer Gonzalez, 43, is accused of being the ringleader and paying five other defendants to participate in the ceremonies, with several taking part in multiple weddings. Immigrants paid between $38,000 and $40,000 for each fake marriage.
All six defendants face charges of marriage fraud, conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, harboring illegal aliens, and conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, federal prosecutors said.
"What an affront the alleged conduct revealed here today must be to those who play by the rules," U.S. Attorney Leah Foley told reporters. "To see a for-profit business whose sole purpose is helping people cheat and skip the line by simply paying for it must be so offensive and disheartening to those who follow our country’s laws."
Five of the accused were taken into custody on Wednesday morning and were scheduled to appear in federal court later in the day. A sixth defendant is already in state prison on a firearms offense.
"Ms. Gonzalez got rich off selling the American Dream all the while investing her money in another country," Foley said.
Gonzalez, a U.S. citizen, allegedly funneled her proceeds into real estate and commercial ventures in the Dominican Republic.
Trump cracks down on sham marriages
The arrests mark the latest action against marriage fraud amid broader efforts by the Trump administration to tighten rules surrounding legal and illegal immigration and restrict paths to citizenship.
In August, federal authorities charged 11 people for their roles in a multimillion-dollar operation that helped hundreds of Chinese nationals secure green cards through fake marriages to U.S. citizens. American participants in that decade-long scheme were paid up to $30,000 per marriage, generating tens of millions of dollars in total revenue.
Three years ago, another major marriage fraud operation was broken up in Massachusetts. Marcialito Biol Benitez, a 49-year-old Philippine national residing in Los Angeles, entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud after admitting he ran a large agency that paired foreign citizens with Americans.
Federal prosecutors said that the current investigation remains active. Court documents allege that several defendants engaged in housing and unemployment fraud, and lied on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, applications by falsely claiming they had never been married.
Gonzalez is further accused of spending $120,000 obtained through SNAP benefits. To date, none of the immigrants who paid for marriages have been charged.
"Marriage fraud undermines the processes that ensure honest, lawful individuals can marry United States citizens and enjoy everything the United States has to offer to them," John Soares, assistant special agent in charge, Homeland Security Investigations in New England, told reporters.
"Fraudsters, like the individuals arrested today, make that process more difficult."
