Six Sentenced in International Alien Smuggling, Asylum Fraud and Money Laundering Conspiracy: More Than $22 Million Laundered
The Justice Department announced on October 29 that five Cuban nationals and one U.S. citizen were sentenced for their roles in a vast international conspiracy involving alien smuggling, asylum fraud and money laundering. The group charged migrants between $1,500 and $40,000 for smuggling services and at times chartered private planes to move groups of aliens.
According to court documents, Liannys Yaiselys Vega-Perez, 27, was sentenced to four years in prison; Miguel Martinez Vasconcelos, 31, Luis Emmanuel Escalona-Marrero, 32, and Walbis Pozo-Dutel, 32, were each sentenced to two years; Layra Libertad Treto Santos, 30, was sentenced to 30 months; and Emanuel Martinez Gonzalez, 29, was sentenced to two years. Escalona-Marrero was ordered to forfeit $2.9 million, Vasconcelos $150,000, and Treto Santos $95,000.
Prosecutors said the organization induced thousands of Cuban aliens to enter the United States, either smuggled across the southern border or through ports of entry using fraudulent Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waivers. Cuban residents are not eligible for ESTA; the group filed hundreds of applications falsely claiming applicants had not been in Cuba since 2011. Once in the U.S., the group ran a fraudulent immigration benefits business, filing bogus asylum and other applications for a fee. Between 2021 and 2025 the defendants laundered more than $22 million through shell companies, and between July 2022 and November 2024 spent more than $600,000 with a single airline on commercial flights.
"These defendants turned illegal immigration into a multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida said his office would keep working with task force partners against such schemes.
Twelve individuals were charged in the case: two have pleaded guilty and await sentencing, one was convicted at trial, Erik Ventura-Castro was sentenced on July 29 to 30 months, and two remain fugitives. The case was prosecuted with Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) as part of Operation Take Back America.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国司法部总部大楼（素材库 federal-core 固定图）。GSM 素材库。 / U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington. GSM asset library (federal-core pack).
