Twelve people have been charged with running an $18 million human smuggling ring that brought hundreds of Cuban nationals into the US, the Department of Justice said.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office said the group promoted bogus visa services from January 2021 through June 2025, tricking Cubans into thinking that they could enter America legally by posing as European citizens.
The group would go on to fabricate documents, charter private planes and launder money through the Zelle payment app as the operation swelled into a multi-million dollar venture to skirt US asylum laws.
“We will not rest until those who profit from the suffering of vulnerable people — including many unaccompanied children — face severe, comprehensive justice,” Bondi said in a statement Thursday.
Officials said the defendants operated the fake business called “ASESORIA Y SERVICIOS MIGRATORIOS LLC,” which translates to Immigration Advice and Services LLC.
The company promoted itself on social media postings as one dedicated to helping immigrants fill out permits and asylum filings, but in reality, the defendants filed hundreds of fake Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) applications to US Customs and Border Protection.
The group charged between $1,500 and $40,000 per victim, using Zelle to conduct about $7 million in transfers throughout the four-year operation, the DOJ said.
Records also showed that the fake company spent more than $2.5 million on flights for their unsuspecting clients.
“This indictment exposes a criminal organization that smuggled people into the United States on a massive scale,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti.
“Posing as a legitimate immigration service, the defendants used social media promotions and false legal filings to attract new clients and perpetuate their fraud,” he added.
The defendants include Lazaro Alain Cabrera-Rodriguez, 27, Yuniel Lima-Santos, 30, Liannys Yaiselys Vega-Perez, 26, Marianny Lucia Lopez-Torres, 25, Frandy Aragon-Diaz, 33, Erik Ventura-Castro, 23, Miguel Alejandro Martinez Vasconcelos, 30, Walbis Pozo-Dutel, 30, Emanuel Martinez Gonzalez, 28, Luis Emmanuel Escalona-Marrero, 31, Layra Libertad Treto Santos, 31, and Gisleivy Peralta Consuegra, 40.
Lima-Santos and Aragon-Diaz were charged with alien smuggling for financial gain.
All the defendants except for Consuegra were charged with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain.
Consuegra was charged with conspiracy to commit asylum fraud, along with Lima-Santos, Vega-Perez, Aragon-Diaz and Santos.
Cabrera-Rodriguez, Lima-Santos, Vega-Perez, Aragon-Diaz, Ventura-Castro, Martinez Vasconcelos, Escalona-Marrero, and Santos were additionally charged with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
The indictments were part of the DOJ’s Operation Take Back America, a nationwide program aimed at tackling illegal immigration and transnational crime.