Marglli Gallego: $11M Hammocks HOA Fraud, Sentence, and Reforms

Marglli Gallego is the former president of the Hammocks Community Association in West Kendall, Miami-Dade County, who was sentenced in April 2026 to seven years in prison for orchestrating the Marglli Gallego Hammocks HOA fraud, a roughly $11 million theft from an association that serves more than 18,000 residents across 6,559 homes. She pleaded guilty to racketeering and grand theft, drew seven years of probation to follow her prison term, and was permanently banned from working for any HOA in the country.¹² Prosecutors called it one of the largest homeowners association frauds in United States history.

How She Took Over the Board

Gallego did not move into the Hammocks in the ordinary sense. Prosecutors said she “targeted” the community by buying a one-percent share of a condominium unit for the sole purpose of qualifying for a board seat. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said the board “became her cash cow in her diabolical scheme.”³ She was elected treasurer in 2015 and rose to president by 2017, a role she held until 2021.⁴

How the $11 Million Was Stolen

Between roughly 2018 and 2022, Gallego and a network of family members and associates drained association funds through several overlapping methods. The final $11 million figure was far above the under-$2 million originally suspected when charges were first filed.⁴

Fake Vendors and Shell Companies

The core of the scheme ran through fictitious companies set up by board members and their relatives. These entities billed the HOA for work that was never performed or was vastly inflated. Gallego’s husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, owned one such company, Excellent Services & Work, which received more than $1 million in HOA payments.² A relative named Ivan Dario Diez bought a company called Deco Enterprises for $3,000, and 25 days later it began billing the HOA. In about six months it collected roughly $172,000, including an invoice for hurricane cleanup after a hurricane that never made landfall.⁵ Prosecutors nicknamed the family-run vendor web “los tios and las tias.”

Three more shells, Albri Consulting, Aya Service and Repair Corp., and Kaissen Technology, together took in nearly $500,000. All three were registered through the firm of the HOA’s controller and accountant, Jesus Cue.⁶

Kickbacks and Overpayments

Not every vendor was fictional. Some contractors did real work but were deliberately overpaid so they could funnel the excess back to board members. Forensic accounting found nearly $6 million in payments for services that were never provided or were duplicative, plus $1.2 million in overpayments to HOA employees.⁴

Personal Spending on HOA Cards

Gallego used HOA credit cards at supermarkets and fast-food restaurants including Pollo Tropical, Panera Bread, and Little Caesars.⁷ Stolen funds also went to travel, wire transfers to Colombia, veterinary and medical bills, and household goods.⁴ The association spent $374,000 on a private detective firm that Gallego directed to conduct personal investigations, including surveillance on her own property and background checks on residents she had sued and on a police sergeant working the criminal probe.⁸

The 167 Percent Assessment Hike

In 2022, the board raised annual assessments on the community’s 6,527 homes by 167 percent, generating more than $10 million that prosecutors say fed the fraud rather than community services.⁴

How Residents Were Silenced

Gallego’s grip on the board extended past the money. Residents and investigators described a hostile front office staffed with her friends and family.⁹ Homeowners who questioned the spending or signed recall petitions were hit with arbitrary liens, bogus fines, and claims of overdue assessments.⁴ Police said Gallego ordered the community’s security teams to harass rival association members.⁷

Resident Ana Danton told reporters the HOA intentionally refused to accept payments from certain homeowners “just so they could say they didn’t pay,” pushing some into foreclosure. “People were terrified of her,” Danton said.⁹ Accomplices parked trucks outside the homes of residents who supported recalls, and some homeowners eventually left the community.⁴

How the Scheme Unraveled

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office opened its investigation in 2017 after months of resident complaints about declining reserves and undocumented spending. Gallego was first arrested in April 2021 on charges of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud, initially covering about $60,000, part of which had gone to the private detective firm.⁸

The board fought investigators at every step. It sued to block subpoenas, defied court orders on record production, and once tried to charge police $11,500 to produce documents. Board members also filed defamation and civil-rights complaints against Miami-Dade officers on the case.⁴ Gallego’s cousin, Kevin Leonardo Alzate, was presented to judges as the HOA’s custodian of records but later testified under oath that he had never handled document requests, drawing charges of perjury, fabricating evidence, and resisting an officer.¹⁰

Sweeping criminal charges filed in late 2022 led Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Beatrice Butchko to appoint David Gersten, a retired chief judge of Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, as receiver over the association.¹¹³¹² Those records let investigators confirm the loss reached $11 million.

Who Else Was Charged

Eight people in total have been arrested. The prosecution was handled by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Economic Crimes Division under Katherine Fernandez Rundle.¹³

Gallego pleaded guilty in April 2026 to racketeering and grand theft and received seven years in prison, with credit for roughly three and a half years already served in jail, followed by seven years of probation. She was permanently banned from entering the Hammocks or working for any HOA.²

Her husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering; other charges including racketeering and grand theft were dropped. He was sentenced to seven years of probation, ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution, and required to deed a five-acre property valued at $1.2 million to the HOA. A probation violation could send him to prison for 30 years.¹⁴

Former board member Monica Ghilardi pleaded guilty to grand theft and perjury, drawing one year in prison and 12 years of probation, and is cooperating with investigators. Former board member Myriam Rodgers received a withhold of adjudication, meaning no conviction on her record, and five years of probation; she is also cooperating.¹

Yoleidis Lopez Garcia, who served as director, treasurer, secretary, and vice president at various times between 2016 and 2021, faces a charge of second-degree grand theft and has pleaded not guilty.⁴ Kevin Leonardo Alzate was arrested in December 2023 for perjury, fabricating physical evidence, and resisting an officer without violence.¹⁰ Ivan Dario Diez was arrested in October 2024 on charges including grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, fabricating evidence, and perjury; of the roughly $172,000 his Deco Enterprises collected, about $124,000 was withdrawn in cash. He has pleaded not guilty.⁵

Jesus Cue, the HOA’s former controller and accountant, was arrested in November 2024 and charged with racketeering, money laundering, grand theft, unlawful compensation, organized scheme to defraud, and three counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information, all first-degree felonies. Prosecutors allege he received $644,000 in vendor payments over four years while telling a bankruptcy court that the HOA had no reserves and needed a $375,000 emergency loan. His case is pending.⁶

What Homeowners Got Back

Beyond the criminal cases, receiver David Gersten pursued civil lawsuits against former board members, former HOA attorneys, vendors, and even Gallego’s criminal defense counsel. A $3.5 million settlement was reached with former HOA law firm Rasco Klock Perez & Nieto and attorney Hilton Napoleon II, funded by the firm’s malpractice insurer.¹⁵ Additional settlements included $2 million from former board members’ directors and officers insurance, $1 million from the HOA’s former crime insurer (Philadelphia Indemnity), $300,000 from other former HOA attorneys, and $106,000 from Gallego’s criminal defense attorneys.¹⁶

Excluding the $3.5 million attorney settlement, the receivership team had recovered nearly $4 million as of mid-2024. Receivership operations billed $3.8 million in fees, and the $3.5 million attorney settlement was subject to a 33.3 percent contingency fee.¹⁵ Fernandez Rundle said the priority was “not only to get justice for the homeowners but to make sure that they were made whole as much as possible.”³

What Florida Changed After the Case

The case exposed how little legal oversight existed over Florida homeowners associations. State Representative Juan Carlos Porras worked with Hammocks residents to draft House Bill 919, signed by Governor DeSantis on June 12, 2023, and effective October 1, 2023. The “HOA Bill of Rights” criminalized fraudulent voting activities as first-degree misdemeanors, subjected board members who accept kickbacks to civil monetary penalties, required agendas to identify specific items, mandated conflict-of-interest disclosures, and required removal of any officer or director charged with embezzlement, records destruction, or obstruction of justice.¹⁷

Fernandez Rundle and Hammocks residents said the final law was watered down by industry lobbyists. The election-fraud provisions carried only misdemeanor penalties rather than the felony charges originally contemplated, and the bill did not include broader measures like expanded access to financial records or stiffer criminal penalties for dishonest board members.¹⁸

In 2024, the legislature made it a crime to destroy or refuse to turn over HOA records and to seek or accept kickbacks.⁴ In early 2026, the Florida House passed HB 657 by 108-2, which would create a state-funded court process for HOA disputes, establish a formal procedure for dissolving an HOA, and require HOA bylaws to automatically update to reflect changes in state law. Its Senate counterpart, SB 1498, had stalled in committee as of early 2026.¹⁹

1
Miami Herald. Former Hammocks HOA President, Husband Plead Guilty in Fraud Case
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The Real Deal. Crime Syndicate Inside the Hammocks Fraud Guilty Pleas
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NBC Miami. Husband and Wife Take Plea Deals in Massive Hammocks HOA Theft Case
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The Real Deal. How the Hammocks Hosted the Biggest Known HOA Fraud
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The Real Deal. Seventh Person Arrested in Hammocks Fraud Case
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Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Hammocks Controller Accountant Charged in HOA Thefts
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The Independent. Florida Hammocks HOA President Fraud Guilty
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Miami Herald. Former Hammocks HOA President Arrested
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Realtor.com. HOA President Marglli Gallego Hammocks Fraud Sentence
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Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Cousin of Former Hammocks HOA President Charged
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Miami Herald. Hammocks HOA Receivership
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CBS News Miami. Former Hammocks HOA President Husband Plea Deal
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Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Miami SAO Newsletter April 2026
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The Real Deal. Hammocks Marglli Gallego Husband Plead Guilty to HOA Fraud
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The Real Deal. Hammocks Settling Suit Against Ex-HOA Attorneys
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The Real Deal. Hammocks Receiver David Gersten Now HOA Monitor
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CBS News Miami. Florida Law Known as the Homeowners Association Bill of Rights Takes Effect
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Florida Realtors. Defrauded HOA Trying to Unravel Mess
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Florida Politics. House Passes HOA Bill Allowing Owners to Dissolve Boards