Marglli Gallego, the ringleader of the massive Hammocks fraud case, pleaded guilty Thursday for her role in the scheme, after maintaining her innocence for nearly four years. Her husband, Jose Gonzalez, also pleaded guilty.
Their pleas mark the end of the yearslong Hammocks saga, where state prosecutors alleged former board members misappropriated millions of dollars from the Hammocks, South Florida’s biggest homeowners association. Residents also levied claims of election interference, mismanagement and bullying of any homeowner who dared to speak out.
On Thursday, Gallego pleaded guilty to one count each of racketeering and grand theft, and Gonzalez pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering under separate plea deals. The pleas were announced in a court hearing in front of Miami-Dade Circuit Criminal Judge Andrea Wolfson.
“I am guilty,” Gallego said, wearing an orange inmate uniform and with her hair held back in a braid.
Gallego was the only defendant out of eight people charged in the case to remain incarcerated, after she was denied bond last year, when she had already spent over 800 days in jail.
Gallego will serve seven years in state prison, with credit for time served. She has been in prison since November 2022, when the Hammocks scheme unraveled and Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office first filed an arrest affidavit outlining the fraud.
Gallego also was sentenced to seven years of reporting probation, and under her plea agreement, she is to stay away from the Hammocks HOA.
Gonzalez was sentenced to seven years of reporting probation and also has tendered a $50,000 check to the Hammocks HOA. He also is to turn over to the HOA a property he owns in south Miami-Dade that’s valued at $1.2 million as restitution.
Gonzalez appeared in court wearing a blue button-up shirt and khakhis. He also admitted culpability: “I am guilty,” he told the judge.
In exchange for their guilty pleas to one count each, the remaining counts against them were dismissed. Gallego also was charged with organized fraud, money laundering and grand theft. Gonzalez was also charged with racketeering and grand theft.
Violating the terms of their plea deal could result in a state prison sentence of 30 years for each.
In their 2022 arrest affidavit, prosecutors outlined a simple scheme: Former board members hired fake companies to do little to no work on the West Kendall property and then misappropriated invoices the HOA paid to the bogus vendors, including diverting some of the funds to Gallego and Gonzalez’s pockets.
Aside from Gallego, three other former board members were charged in 2022. Two of them, Myriam Rodgers and Monica Ghilardi, switched their pleas from guilty to not guilty in 2024 and subsequently cooperated with investigators. This leaves charges pending against former board member Yoleidis Lopez Garcia, who has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Gonzalez led some of these fake vendors.
Three more people –– two of them Gallego relatives –– have been charged since 2022 for their roles in the alleged scheme.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.