Hammocks Community Miami, FL/Hammocks Preservation Society

Hammocks homeowner reacts to the Gallego Mafia sentences.

Ana Danton—who is a Miami real estate agent—has lived in the Hammocks community since 1993.

She tells Realtor.com that she and her neighbors believe Gallego and Gonzalez got off far too easy, despite Gallego's multiyear prison sentence.

"Seven years in jail for $11 million? We all think it was not nearly enough," she says.

Danton served on the Hammocks Community Association from 2001 to 2007 in several different capacities, and at one time was board president. She says she was shocked by the subsequent corruption of HOA officials who later joined the board.

"This is the third time the Hammocks has been in the news for corruption," she says. "This time, we all suspected something was off."

According to Danton, the first red flag was the deteriorating condition of the neighborhood's landscaping, which appeared to be going unmaintained.

"The first thing that lady [Gallego] did was fire our landscapers," she says. "She replaced them with friends and family who didn't have the right equipment, and everything was a mess."

Danton says Gallego fired the security staff next, and replaced some of those positions with individuals who were not properly licensed or qualified.

"Then she fired the personnel in the office, and brought in friends and family who got benefits and became aggressive toward homeowners," recalls Danton. "That's when homeowners began waking up."

Danton says that while Gallego was in charge, many residents were hit with arbitrary liens, fines, and in some cases even lost their homes to foreclosure.

"They didn't accept payments from people, just so they could say they didn't pay," she says. "It was awful. I'm just happy they're not going to be able to do this to someone ever again."
One lawyer's take on the situation

Florida attorney Chad D. Cummings of Cummings & Cummings Law, who is not involved in the case but has reviewed the situation, tells Realtor.com that the Hammocks case reflects a failure of enforcement rather than a gap in the law.

“Florida Statute Section 720 already requires HOAs to maintain proper financial records and make them available to members on request,” he says. “The provisions existed the entire time Gallego was allegedly running the Hammocks like a personal checking account.”

Cummings argues that homeowners should have acted faster to enforce their own rights, and that state oversight came too late. “The state attorney did not get involved until 2022, years into the scheme,” he says.

He adds that HOA governance depends heavily on homeowner participation. “Attend meetings, ask questions, and if necessary, hire an attorney to investigate suspected misconduct,” he advises.

Cummings also describes the case as a breakdown in “internal controls,” where financial oversight is too centralized. “These controls fail whenever too much power is concentrated in a single person,” he says.

Cummings notes that Florida law already gives homeowners the right to inspect financial records, but says many are unaware of it. “Most people pay their assessment and never ask a single question,” he says. “Gallego counted on that.”

The Hammocks:
South Florida’s biggest HOA fraud Ringleader Marglli Gallego was sentenced to state prison last month in a scheme that fleeced a community
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Marglli Gallego was supposed to be a savior for South Florida’s largest homeowners association.

She rode to power at the Hammocks, first elected to the board of directors as treasurer in 2015 and then rising to president in 2017. Some homeowners say at first, they saw her as their way out from previous HOA leadership they disliked, setting a hopeful tone for better days for the Hammocks.

The nightmare scenario that ensued brought the West Kendall community to its knees, costing residents millions and resulting in years behind bars for the grifter who fleeced them.

Gallego was the ringleader of the scheme that siphoned $11 million from HOA coffers, diverting funds to herself and her husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, along with other family members and associates, prosecutors said.

The Gallego-led board of directors bullied homeowners who spoke out or signed the recall petition seeking to oust the board, residents said.

Retaliatory tactics included having an accomplice park a truck outside of homes and hitting the owners with unjust allegations of overdue assessments and bogus fines, homeowners said. Some, facing what they said were unjust fines over alleged HOA rules violations — over the color of their driveway or unpruned trees — sold their homes and moved.

The scheme wasn’t just a crime of opportunity, prosecutors said.

Gallego “targeted” the Hammocks, buying a 1 percent stake in a condo unit at the HOA, qualifying her to run for the board, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a news conference after Gallego’s guilty plea. Once in office, Gallego turned the HOA into a “cash cow in her diabolical scheme,” Fernandez Rundle added.

Gallego’s accomplices on the board invalidated 1,900 out of 2,900 signatures for a 2022 recall election, and that same year increased annual assessments on the Hammocks’ 6,527 homes to more than $10 million, a 167 percent hike, according to charging documents.

Eight people –– Gallego and three other board members, as well as Gonzalez and three others who weren’t on the board –– have been arrested and charged for their roles in the fraud since late 2022.

The scheme at West Kendall’s Hammocks –– which at 3,800 acres and home to about 18,000 residents is South Florida’s biggest HOA and the state’s second biggest –– struck a chord with communities across the state governed by associations.

Mismanagement including neglected upkeep, opaque records for hefty assessments, election tampering and retaliation against those who pushed back on board members’ authority has been alleged at HOAs across the state for years.

More than half of Florida residents live in communities governed by either homeowners or condominium associations, including 9.4 million people who reside across 50,000 HOAs, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, which investigated the Hammocks.

Gallego stepped down from the board following her first arrest in 2021 on grand theft and organized fraud charges over misappropriating $60,000 from the HOA.

Last month, Gallego, 44, and Gonzalez, 49, who had maintained their innocence for nearly four years and were awaiting their trial date, pleaded guilty. “I am guilty,” each separately said in court. Gallego was the only defendant in the scheme denied bond and held in jail for over two years awaiting trial, and she wore an orange inmate uniform during her guilty plea.

Gallego was sentenced to seven years in prison –– the longest known prison sentence for an HOA president nationwide –– with credit for time served, and seven years of probation. She is banned from ever setting foot at the Hammocks and from seeking work at an HOA. Her husband was sentenced to seven years of probation and tendered a $50,000 check to the HOA. The couple deeded to the HOA a 5-acre south Miami-Dade County property valued at $1.2 million, which they purchased with funds stolen from the Hammocks.

Gallego pleaded guilty to one count each of racketeering and grand theft, and Gonzalez pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering under a separate plea deal. Other counts against them were dismissed.

Two other former board members pleaded guilty in 2024 and cooperated with investigators. Charges are pending against the fourth ex-board member and three others alleged to have played a role in the scheme.

Stonewalling, a storefront and a hidden bunker

It took nearly a decade to unravel the scope of the fraud. When investigators filed sweeping charges in 2022, after starting to poke around the case five years prior, they pegged the misappropriated funds at under $2 million.

The amount of the theft was revealed as $11 million after the recent guilty pleas.

Investigators were stonewalled by the Gallego-led board, which sued over records subpoenas, defied court orders to provide records and never provided any documents unless the court was involved, according to prosecutors’ filings.

Gallego sued the state attorney’s office to block enforcement of its subpoenas and separately filed state and federal court complaints against Miami-Dade police officers who had been poking into the HOA’s dealings, alleging defamation and separately deprivation of civil rights over an incident during the 2018 board election.

After the HOA finally turned over some records in 2019, the board tried to charge the police $11,500 for document production.

A former attorney for the Hammocks argued the document requests were overly broad and burdensome, adding that the HOA kept paper records.

Court-appointed receiver David Gersten took over the Hammocks’ dealings in 2022 and pried open the door behind which records were kept –– literally.

Paperwork was found hidden in a “bunker” beneath a hatch in the HOA’s ballroom, as well as many more documents in an off-site storefront labeled a “spa,” Fernandez Rundle said.

Civil suits

At its core, the mechanics of the alleged scheme were straightforward: The former board hired vendors that did no work at the Hammocks and then diverted the HOA’s payments to the bogus contractors, including to the pockets of Gallego and Gonzalez. They spent the funds on travel, wire transfers to Colombia and personal expenses such as veterinary bills, medical bills and household goods, according to prosecutors.

Some of the fake vendors were tied to family and friends of arrested former board members, including Gallego. Some contractors did work at the HOA but were overpaid in order to give kickbacks to the corrupt board members, according to an attorney who worked with the receiver.

Nearly $6 million of the stolen funds were HOA overpayments, payments for services that weren’t provided or for redundant services in 2021 and 2022, the forensic accountant’s report found. At the same time, $1.2 million was overpaid to HOA employees.

During his receivership tenure, Gersten, who has stayed on in a limited basis as Hammocks’ monitor, including for elections, filed civil suits against former board members who weren’t arrested, as well as against ex-HOA attorneys, Gallego’s criminal defense attorney and “insider” vendors for their alleged roles in the scheme.

Most of those cases settled, with defendants admitting to no wrongdoing and they or their insurers tendering millions of dollars to the HOA as part of their settlement agreements.

Alleged conspirators and legacy

Charges are pending against former Hammocks board member Yoleidis Lopez Garcia, who pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft in the second degree. From 2016 to 2021, she served in various board posts, including director, treasurer, secretary and vice president of the board.

Kevin Leonardo Alzate, Gallego’s cousin, pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury by contradictory statements, fabricating physical evidence and resisting an officer without violence. He’s accused of playing a role in the HOA’s dogged fight against releasing records to investigators, including first signing sworn affidavits that he was the Hammocks’ records custodian and then denying he served in the role during his court testimony.

Others charged are Ivan Dario Diez, described as a relative of Gallego, who is accused of posing as a contractor. Jesus Cue, a former Hammocks controller, is accused of creating one of the bogus limited liability companies through which HOA funds were funneled.

Diez pleaded not guilty to charges of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, fabricating physical evidence, perjury and false entries in books of a business entity. Cue pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering, money laundering, grand theft and organized scheme to defraud.

The Hammocks case highlighted Florida’s lack of legal oversight over HOAs and prompted legislators to strengthen laws. In 2024, they approved legislation that, among other things, criminalized accepting or seeking kickbacks by board members at HOAs and destroying or refusing to turn over records.

Courtesy of The Real Deal
By Lidia Dinkova

State Attorney Fernandez Rundle cautions corrupt HOAs in Miami-Dade that their criminal activities are coming to an end.
Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez of District 11 mistakenly attributes the revelation of Hammocks corruption to the current HOA members.
* The HPS expresses gratitude to Ana Danton for spearheading the fight and the legal efforts that dismantled the Gallego crime family.
* We also appreciate Ricardo Rodriguez for his Zoom podcasts that kept the Hammocks community informed during its most challenging times.
* Lastly, we thank Fernando Blanco for serving as a source of inspiration in the battle against the Gallego Mafia when it was most needed.

Justice served in District 11. ⚖️ Corrupt HOA officials who exploited homeowners have pleaded guilty, surrendered a $1.2 million property, and paid restitution. Let this be a warning: if you steal from or abuse our residents, you will be prosecuted. Proud to stand with the State Attorney’s Office and other state leaders in fighting HOA corruption and protecting District 11.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Fernandez Rundle warns Corrupt HOA officials who exploit homeowners.
Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez of District 11 erroneously gives credit for the struggle against the Gallego crime family to the current Hammocks Board.
*The HPS wants to thank Ana Danton for her struggle to put an end to HOA corruption in the Hammocks Community. It was Ana Danton's efforts that led and made possible the legal process that liberated our Hammocks Community from the crimes committed by the Gallego Mafia.
Thank you Ana Danton
And thank you Ricardo Rodriguez for your podcasts that kept the Hammocks Community informed through its darkest hours.
And thank you Fernando Blanco for your inspiration to put an end to the Hammocks corruption.

Justice served in District 11. ⚖️ Corrupt HOA officials who exploited homeowners have pleaded guilty, surrendered a $1.2 million property, and paid restitution. Let this be a warning: if you steal from or abuse our residents, you will be prosecuted. Proud to stand with the State Attorney’s Office and other state leaders in fighting HOA corruption and protecting District 11.

IN FLORIDA, DO WE NEED AN HOA LAW LIKE THIS NEW LAW THAT PASSED IN GEORGIA TO PROTECT HOMEOWNERS?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Mastermind in Massive Hammocks HOA theft and her husband take plea deals. Former Hammocks HOA President Marglli Gallego and her husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, accepted the deals at a hearing on Thursday.

A former president of the Hammocks Home Owners Association and her husband have accepted plea deals in connection with the massive theft of funds from the HOA.

Former Hammocks HOA President Marglli Gallego and her husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, pled guilty and accepted the deals at a hearing on Thursday.

Under her deal, Gallego was sentenced to seven years in prison followed by seven years of probation.

Gonzalez was given seven years of probation and must pay a $50,000 restitution and forfeit a $1.2 million home.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle called the scheme "one of the largest homeowner association frauds in U.S. history" that bilked over 18,000 residents out of upwards of $11 million.

"For us it was important not only to get justice for the homeowners but to make sure that they were made whole as much as possible from this criminal case," Fernandez Rundle said. "We believe that this is the longest prison sentence ever for an HOA board president in the United States."

A former president of the Hammocks Home Owners Association and her husband have accepted plea deals in connection with the massive theft of funds from the HOA.

The husband and wife were among several arrested amid a years-long investigation into racketeering, money laundering and grand theft at the HOA.

Prosecutors said board members and relatives used shell companies to funnel HOA funds to themselves and their friends under the guise that they were vendor payments.

The fake vendors were paid for performing little or no work, prosecutors said.

Five suspects were arrested in November 2022 after they were accused of stealing millions from the HOA in the scheme dating back years.

When authorities searched the association office, they found a "bunker" and a trap door in a ballroom that were used to hide documents used in the scheme, Fernandez-Rundle said.

Gallego's husband, Gonzalez, and cousin, Kevin Leonardo Alzate, were also arrested, along with board member and former treasurer Myriam Rodgers and Yoleidis Lopez.

Gonzalez, working as a vendor, received over $1 million in association funds for work never done or overbilled for, Fernandez Rundle said.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office "Justice in Motion" bus during the investigation at the Hammocks HOA

The board's president after Gallego, Monica Ghilardi, was also arrested and charged with racketeering and grand theft.

Fernandez Rundle said four others have already pled guilty, while others have cases pending and one faces sentencing.

The Hammocks HOA oversees about 40 communities with more than 6,500 units and around 18,000 residents, and is one of the largest homeowners associations in the state and the largest in Miami-Dade.

The HOA theft scandal led to the creation of a new state law meant to protect homeowners.

Bowery pays $66M for Hammocks apartments amid rise of non-institutional buyers

Bowery Properties bought an apartment complex for $65.5 million, as non-institutional investors gain ground in the South Florida multifamily market.
Miami-based Bowery bought the 264-unit Cascades at the Hammocks at 10605 Hammocks Boulevard in the West Kendall neighborhood in unincorporated Miami-Dade County from Denver-based Grand Peaks, according to records and the buyer’s news release.

The sale breaks down to $248,100 per unit.

Completed in 1988 on 9.6 acres, Cascades consists of 12 three-story buildings offering one-bedroom to three-bedroom apartments. Monthly rents for the 18 available units range from $2,025 to $2,850, the property’s website shows.

Grand Peaks, led by Luke Simpson, had paid $63 million for Cascade in 2021. At the time, South Florida multifamily boomed with record demand and rent growth, prompting an investment sales flurry that was further fueled by low interest rates.

The complex is within the Hammocks community, one of the largest homeowners associations in the U.S., which was roiled in recent years due to the arrests of former board members on charges they misappropriated HOA funds. Four of the eight charged have pleaded guilty, while a court-appointed receiver, who remains as HOA monitor, oversaw recuperation of lost funds and bringing HOA management in order.

Non-institutional buyers, including family offices such as Bowery, as well as individual investors and smaller groups, have been scooping up South Florida apartment properties in recent years.

Florida HOA abuse shows it’s time to consider local councils for oversight By Katherine Fernandez Rundle April 12, 2026.
The Miami Herald
The nearly two million Floridians residing in communities with homeowners’ associations (HOAs) and another seven million with condominium associations (COAs) must feel as if they are participants in a statewide governance odyssey.

In the past, local governments did things like maintaining street landscaping, trimming trees, maintaining small community swimming pools and recreation areas, repairing streetlights and sidewalks. Today, these are the things undertaken by residential HOAs and COAs.

When things go well, as they usually do in the vast majority of HOAs, this poses no difficulty. However, when problems such as fraudulent HOA elections, thefts of HOA funds and financial kickbacks to HOA officers and managers are uncovered, homeowners often discover a frustrating lack of local governmental oversight and options.

To protect our residents and preserve the integrity of our neighborhoods, I believe it is time for Floridians to embrace the concept of creating robust local control of their HOAs — in other words, a locally appointed HOA council.

The argument for local control is centered on a simple principle: Local authorities and residents are best positioned to understand the unique challenges within their communities. Homeowners deserve honesty and transparency from those overseeing and managing their associations. When that trust is broken, it threatens financial security and peace of mind.

Florida should consider creating locally appointed HOA councils.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has demonstrated the impact of local prioritization.

We have aggressively investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated those who exploited their positions within HOAs for personal gain.

Consider the Hammocks community association investigation. In a landmark HOA case, my office secured multiple arrests and convictions involving the theft of millions of dollars from one of the largest HOAs in the country. The investigation highlighted how local resources can uncover schemes that state agencies might miss. Other recent actions have targeted not just board members, but also the accountants and controllers who allegedly facilitated the movement of funds to fictional vendors. Local prosecutions also have focused on sentences that include significant restitution orders, aiming to return stolen funds to the community. Homeowners have long struggled with an enforcement gap in state regulatory structures. While the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) has the duty to oversee certain aspects of condo association governance, its authority over HOAs is limited compared to its oversight of condominiums.

Regrettably, DBPR’s limited jurisdiction over HOAs leaves residents with no recourse for non-criminal disputes other than expensive private litigation. We are grateful to Florida Sens. Ileana Garcia and Jennifer Bradley, Rep. Juan Carlos Porras and former Rep. Vicky Lopez for their legislative efforts to bring real options to HOA and COA residents, who too often are ignored, powerless and trapped by nonresponsive, unaccountable or thieving boards.

A locally appointed HOA council, overseen by the county or a local municipality, could help. It could solve HOA disputes by providing a local ombudsman. Instead of navigating a distant bureaucracy, residents could turn to a county-appointed council to mediate disputes over records requests, maintenance failures and fine appeals.

A local HOA council also could streamline adjudication. This council could serve as a “Special Master” body, empowered to hold hearings and issue binding orders on civil violations, bypassing the years-long backlog often found in state-level arbitration. It could offer expert oversight, too: appointing local professionals, such as retired judges or forensic auditors, could ensure that those resolving disputes understand the specific complexities of Miami-Dade real estate landscape. When wrong-doing is uncovered, a local council could act as a clearing house to flag suspicious financial patterns to the State Attorney’s Office, creating a seamless link between civil oversight and criminal enforcement.

The momentum generated by my successful prosecutions has already spurred legislative changes designed to give homeowners more protection. New laws have bolstered criminal penalties for board members who intentionally withhold records or engage in fraudulent voting practices.

Now, it’s time to provide the tools locally, here in Miami-Dade County, to ensure that residents know their homes and neighborhoods are protected by authorities who are actively monitoring for abuse and corruption.

By empowering local prosecutors and county officials, Miami-Dade can lead the way for homeowner protection.

Katherine Fernandez Rundle is the state attorney for Miami-Dade County.

*Florida property manager on the run after stealing HOA funds for plastic surgery, trips: deputies

by: Katlyn Fernandez

Florida property manager on the run after stealing HOA funds for plastic surgery, trips: deputies A Florida property manager is wanted after deputies said she used hundreds of thousands of dollars from a homeowners association for plastic surgery and lavish trips.