A Massachusetts woman allegedly operated a lucrative sham-marriage network designed to help clients obtain U.S. green cards and, in some cases, citizenship, according to federal prosecutors.
Jennifer Gonzalez, a U.S. citizen, charged as much as $40,000 for each arranged marriage and organized up to 20 unions a year over roughly the past decade, said Leah Foley, the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
Prosecutors allege that several women working for Gonzalez married men seeking legal immigration status in the United States.
“This conspiracy netted her $6 million during the course of the alleged scam,” Foley said at a Wednesday news conference at Boston’s Moakley Federal Courthouse. She added that Gonzalez allegedly boasted about putting the proceeds into businesses and real estate in the Dominican Republic, which she repeatedly called “my country.”
The alleged operation came to light after Gonzalez discussed its details with a witness cooperating with federal investigators. According to Foley, Gonzalez believed the person she was speaking with was an undocumented immigrant.
During a recorded conversation, the 43-year-old allegedly described Massachusetts as “so special” because it is a sanctuary state where “illegal aliens get a lot of help as an immigrant.”
Gonzalez also allegedly told the witness that she hoped to give each of her children land in the Dominican Republic for them to own in the future.
“Miss Gonzalez got rich off selling the American dream, all the while investing her money in another country,” Foley said.
According to Foley, Gonzalez said she stopped arranging fraudulent marriages in late 2024 as President Donald Trump was returning to the White House. She allegedly ended the operation completely in 2025, saying immigration enforcement had become “a little harsh.”
Federal prosecutors have identified Gonzalez as the alleged ringleader, while also accusing several others of taking part in the scheme.
Her secretary, 31-year-old Amara Pugh, and three other women—Jessica Tavares, 31; Erica Daniels, 29; and Jaylin Hill, 26—were allegedly paid to marry Gonzalez’s clients.
Gonzalez is also accused of entering into a sham marriage herself with an undocumented immigrant.
The Justice Department included photographs of at least two wedding ceremonies in court documents outlining the alleged scheme.
In many instances, prosecutors said, the women remained married to the men for several years before divorcing them. Some allegedly married new clients as soon as a month after their divorces were finalized.
Foley said the alleged fraud extended beyond the marriage arrangements. Prosecutors also accuse Gonzalez of applying for and collecting SNAP food assistance between 2019 and 2026.
Authorities say she received more than $124,000 in SNAP benefits during 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.
Gonzalez, Pugh, Tavares and two other alleged co-conspirators were arrested Wednesday morning, the Justice Department announced. Hill was already serving a state prison sentence for a gun-related offense.