A Massachusetts woman has been accused of running a decade-long sham marriage operation that prosecutors say generated about $6 million by pairing foreign nationals seeking green cards and U.S. citizenship with U.S. citizens willing to marry them, the Department of Justice announced.
Jennifer Gonzalez, 43, a U.S. citizen, was described by prosecutors as the ringleader of the scheme. U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said Gonzalez charged as much as $40,000 per marriage and arranged as many as 20 marriages a year over the past decade. Foley announced the charges at a news conference Wednesday at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston.
«This conspiracy netted her $6 million during the course of the alleged scam,» Foley said. She added that Gonzalez «bragged that she invested her ill-gotten proceeds in businesses and property in the Dominican Republic, which she repeatedly referred to as ‘my country.’»
According to authorities, Gonzalez’s female employees — who were also charged — married the men seeking legal status in the United States. In most cases, the couples stayed married for years before divorcing, and the women would then marry other foreign nationals as soon as a month after their divorces, officials said. Gonzalez also allegedly entered into a sham marriage herself with a foreign national.
Court records shared by the Justice Department included photographs of at least two marriage ceremonies. Along with Gonzalez, prosecutors charged Amara Pugh, 31, described as Gonzalez’s secretary; Jessica Tavares, 31; Erica Daniels, 29; and Jaylin Hill, 26. All were allegedly paid to marry Gonzalez’s clients. Gonzalez, Pugh, Tavares and two other alleged co-conspirators were arrested Wednesday morning, the department said. Hill is already in state prison for a gun offense.
Foley said Gonzalez appeared to have revealed details of the operation to a witness who was cooperating with federal law enforcement and whom Gonzalez believed was an illegal immigrant. In a recorded conversation, Gonzalez said Massachusetts was «so special» because it is a sanctuary state where «illegal aliens get a lot of help as an immigrant,» according to Foley. Gonzalez also allegedly said her goal was to give each of her children pieces of land in the Dominican Republic that they could later own.
«Miss Gonzalez got rich off selling the American dream, all the while investing her money in another country,» Foley said.
Prosecutors said Gonzalez told the witness she stopped holding phony marriages at the end of 2024 because President Donald Trump was returning to office, and shut down the scheme entirely in 2025 because immigration enforcement had become «a little harsh.»
A second component of the alleged fraud involved Gonzalez applying for and receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, from 2019 through 2026. According to prosecutors, she received more than $124,000 from the program over that period.
«She did not list her income from her sham marriage business and did not list anyone else in her household, not the illegal alien she married and not the father of her children, who she referred to as her husband,» Foley said.
The case is among a series of immigration-related enforcement actions announced by federal authorities in recent months. The charges against Gonzalez and her alleged accomplices center on accusations that they exploited the country’s immigration system for profit while concealing the source of their income from benefits programs.