Florida Sentences Six in $22M Smuggling Ring

Five Cuban nationals and one U.S. citizen from Florida accepted prison terms on Friday for their roles in a multinational smuggling and money laundering operation.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the sentencing of Liannys Yaiselys Vega-Pérez, Miguel Martínez Vasconcelos, Layra Libertad Treto Santos, Luis Emmanuel Escalona-Marrero, Walbis Pozo-Dutel, and Emanuel Martínez González. The group operated a network that charged individuals between $1,500 and $40,000 to enter the United States. They used fraudulent Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) waivers and private charter flights to move migrants through southern border ports and airports. Cuban residents are generally ineligible for ESTA, but the defendants submitted hundreds of applications claiming the applicants had not lived in Cuba since 2011.

Judicial documents detail the specific financial actions of each defendant. Vega-Pérez managed the logistics and submitted asylum filings, while Vasconcelos purchased international tickets and sent at least $150,000 to foreign entities. Escalona-Marrero coordinated the transfer of Cuban passports through Mexico to prevent border seizure and created shell companies to hide funds. Between July 2022 and November 2024, the organization spent more than $600,000 on commercial flights with a single airline. From 2021 to 2025, the defendants laundered over $22 million through various shell businesses before distributing the proceeds.

USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow stated that the sentences serve as a warning to those exploiting the immigration system. He noted that the agency will use available enforcement resources to dismantle criminal operations threatening the public. The investigation was led by USCIS, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, with support from the Department of Justice and authorities in the Cayman Islands.

The court ordered specific financial forfeitures in addition to the prison terms. Escalona-Marrero will forfeit $2.9 million, Vasconcelos will forfeit $150,000, and Treto Santos will forfeit $95,000. Vega-Pérez received a four-year sentence, while Vasconcelos, Pozo-Dutel, and Martínez González each received two-year terms. Treto Santos and Escalona-Marrero were each sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Twelve individuals were named in the superseding indictment for this conspiracy. Two defendants, Yuniel Lima-Santos and Gisleivy Peralta Consuegra, have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Erik Ventura-Castro received a 30-month sentence in July, and Lázaro Alain Cabrera-Rodríguez was found guilty in September. Two defendants, Marianny Lucía López-Torres and Frandy Aragón-Díaz, remain fugitives.