A federal court has sentenced five Cuban nationals and a U.S. citizen for their roles in a smuggling, asylum-fraud and money-laundering enterprise that prosecutors said handled more than 1,700 fraudulent asylum claims.
The defendants previously pleaded guilty to different combinations of smuggling, asylum-fraud and laundering conspiracies. Liannys Yaiselys Vega-Perez received four years in prison; Layra Libertad Treto Santos received 30 months; and Miguel Martinez Vasconcelos, Luis Emmanuel Escalona-Marrero, Walbis Pozo-Dutel and Emanuel Martinez Gonzalez each received two years. Three defendants were also ordered to forfeit amounts ranging from $95,000 to $2.9 million.
Court records described the use of false travel-waiver information, charter and commercial flights, shell companies and fraudulent immigration-benefit applications. Prosecutors said more than $22 million moved through the laundering operation between 2021 and 2025. Other defendants in the wider case remain at large or await sentencing. The Justice Department announcement lists the individual sentences and convictions.
