Federal prosecutors charged six people in Boston on Wednesday, October 21, with taking part in an alleged long-running scheme to arrange hundreds of sham marriages in Massachusetts so that immigrants could unlawfully obtain green cards and potential US citizenship, Reuters reported. The charges are allegations set out in a criminal complaint; none of the defendants has been convicted.
Source: Reuters
US Attorney Leah Foley told a press conference at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston that the alleged organiser was Jennifer Gonzalez, 43, a US-born citizen from Fall River, NBC Boston reported. Five of the six people charged were in federal custody, the report said. According to court documents reported by NBC Boston, the others charged were Erica Daniels, Cherice Alejandro, Amara Pugh, Jessica Tavares and Jaylin Hill, all of Fall River.
Source: NBC Boston
Charged: 6 people on October 21; 5 reported in custody. Alleged price: $38,000–$40,000 per marriage. Alleged pace: 18–20 marriages a year for about 12 years. Alleged profit: more than $6 million (yaani about Rs 53 crore). Status: charges only — no convictions.
Prosecutors allege Gonzalez told a cooperating witness posing as a client that her group had helped obtain hundreds of permanent resident cards for non-citizens living in Massachusetts without legal status, charging $38,000 to $40,000 for a marriage to a US citizen, according to the criminal complaint reported by Reuters. She allegedly described Massachusetts as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction where, in her words, “you get a lot of help as an immigrant,” and said her goal was “for you to get the American Dream.”
Foley said the scheme generated more than $6 million in profit across the whole operation and alleged Gonzalez invested proceeds in businesses and property in the Dominican Republic and claimed state food assistance without declaring income from the scheme, AnewZ reported from the same announcement. Gonzalez's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, that report said.
Source: AnewZ
“My hope is that today the charged defendants and others like them realize that the American dream is not for sale,” Foley said, according to Reuters. “It is earned. And when you try to pilfer it for profit, we will hold you accountable.” Prosecutors also allege the business became harder after President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, and that Gonzalez said she stopped holding the marriages at the end of 2024 and shut the scheme down in 2025. The case follows an August case in New York in which 11 people were charged over a scheme prosecutors said facilitated about 1,000 sham marriages.