Marglli Gallego, accused of leading the alleged massive Hammocks fraud, will remain in jail.
Miami-Dade Circuit Criminal Court Judge Laura Cruz shot down Gallego’s attorney’s plea that she be let out on bond at a court hearing on Wednesday. Sabino Jauregui offered the option of house arrest for Gallego, saying she would be under a “total lockdown.”
“It’s not happening. … I don’t trust you,” Cruz responded, addressing Gallego who was in the courtroom but didn’t speak during the hearing. “I don’t trust that you are not going to tamper with evidence.”
The Hammocks, South Florida’s biggest homeowners association, hosted what prosecutors say was a brazen, yearslong multimillion-dollar fraud scheme. Former board members allegedly siphoned funds from the HOA’s coffers, which are funded by residents’ assessments. Gallego, 43, was arrested in late 2022 along with three other board members and her husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez.
The 2022 arrest affidavit outlined the scheme: Ex-board members hired bogus contractors that did little to no work on the 3,800-acre Hammocks in West Kendall and then signed off on vendors’ invoices, only to then misappropriate the payments, including for personal expenses. Gonzalez and others arrested over the past two years are accused of owning or managing some of the supposed contracting firms.
Two of the ex-board members have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with investigators. Gallego, Gonzalez and the fourth former board member have pleaded not guilty, with Gallego and Gonzalez remaining jailed, court records show.
Gallego, 43, has been in jail for more than 800 days, according to court filings. Charges against her include racketeering, money laundering, grand theft and organized scheme to defraud.
After she was first arrested in 2021 on charges she misappropriated $60,000 from the HOA, she was let out on bond.
Cruz pointed that out in her denial for bond for the 2022 charges.
“You are the one person who went back out and did exactly the same thing once you were released,” she told Gallego in court. “And you are facing very serious charges.”
In preparation for the trial, prosecutors have been going through discovery, compiling evidence such as contracts, loan agreements, bank payments and other records. The alleged scheme unfolded over years, with investigators first poking around Hammocks dealings in 2017 and making the arrests five years later.
Over the past month, prosecutors have turned over 19,000 files to defense attorneys and are about 85 percent done with the discovery phase, a representative for the state told Cruz on Wednesday.
“I understand it’s a monster [case] for everybody,” Cruz said.
In his push for bond for Gallego, Jauregui argued that he needs her out of jail to help him go through the evidence. He also pointed out that her son is graduating high school in May.
“I need her to … review this discovery with me. These are complicated financing documents I can’t understand,” he said.
Cruz argued Gallego can be made available while still in jail. But Jauregui countered that’s not viable because corrections officers would have to wake her up at 4 a.m. to bring her from the jail to the courthouse. And she would only be available for a few hours a day.
“That is the best way the justice system works,” Cruz responded.
The judge gave prosecutors a 10-day deadline to finalize compiling evidence and set the next hearing for April 23.
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