Wedding rings were exchanged, and photos of a happy bride and a well-dressed groom made the marriages appear authentic.
However, federal investigators claimed Wednesday that the weddings were part of a sophisticated, decade-long marriage fraud operation that netted a half-dozen Massachusetts residents millions of dollars. Prosecutors charged six people, including alleged organizer Jennifer Gonzalez, with arranging up to 20 marriages to help immigrants get legal status.
The other five were allegedly paid by Gonzalez to participate in the marriages, with several of them taking part in repeated ceremonies. Each marriage cost an immigrant between $38,000 and $40,000. All are charged with harboring illegal aliens, conspiracy to house illegal aliens, conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, and marriage fraud.
“What an affront the alleged conduct revealed here today must be to those who play by the rules,” United States 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 six were arrested Wednesday morning and are due to appear in federal court later that day. A sixth defendant is now in state prison serving a sentence for a firearms offense.
“Ms. Gonzalez got rich off selling the American Dream while investing her money in another country,” Foley said, describing how Gonzalez allegedly used marriage ring revenues to buy businesses and real estate in the Dominican Republic. She is an American citizen.
An attorney for Gonzalez, 43, of Fall River, Massachusetts, was unavailable for comment.
The arrests are the latest effort to combat marriage fraud, and they come as the Trump administration has tightened limits on both legal and illegal immigration, reducing opportunities for people to enter the nation or become citizens.
In August, 11 persons were accused of taking part in a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to help hundreds of Chinese nationals illegally get green cards through phony marriages to US citizens. In that operation, American citizens were paid up to $30,000 to enter into fraudulent marriages with foreigners seeking lawful permanent residency. The decade-long fraud generated tens of millions of dollars.
Massachusetts prosecuted a similar fraud three years ago. Marcialito Biol Benitez, a 49-year-old Philippine national residing in Los Angeles, pled guilty to conspiracy to conduct marriage fraud and immigration document fraud. Benitez acknowledged running a large-scale marriage fraud scheme in which he brokered weddings between foreign people and Americans.
In the current case, authorities stated that the investigation was still ongoing. According to the court filings, some of the defendants lied on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applications, claiming they had never been married. Gonzalez is also accused of wasting the $120,000 she received in SNAP assistance. Prosecutors also accused the defendants of committing housing and unemployment fraud.
None of the immigrants who joined the marriages have faced charges.
“Marriage fraud undermines the processes that ensure honest, lawful individuals can marry US citizens and enjoy all that the US has to offer,” said John Soares, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England. “Fraudsters, like the individuals arrested today, make that process more difficult.”
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