U.S. Attorney's Office
Southern District of Texas
McALLEN, Texas – Three Texas residents have been sentenced in connection with a long-running and violent conspiracy to monopolize the transmigrante forwarding agency industry in the Los Indios border region, located near Harlingen and Brownsville, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
They and others controlled the transmigrate industry through fear, monopolization and extortion of competitors and laundered proceeds from the conspiracies.
Pedro Antonio Calvillo Hernandez, 50, McAllen, and Mireya Miranda, 59, San Antonio, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to illegally fix prices and allocate the market for transmigrante forwarding agency services and conspiracy to monopolize the transmigrante market.
McALLEN, Texas – Three Texas residents have been sentenced in connection with a long-running and violent conspiracy to monopolize the transmigrante forwarding agency industry in the Los Indios border region, located near Harlingen and Brownsville, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
They and others controlled the transmigrate industry through fear, monopolization and extortion of competitors and laundered proceeds from the conspiracies.
Pedro Antonio Calvillo Hernandez, 50, McAllen, and Mireya Miranda, 59, San Antonio, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to illegally fix prices and allocate the market for transmigrante forwarding agency services and conspiracy to monopolize the transmigrante market.
Hernandez also admitted to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion and received 37 months, while Miranda was ordered to serve 10 months on home detention. Jose de Jesus Tapia Fernandez, 47, Brownsville, was sentenced to 31 months in prison after pleading guilty to a money laundering conspiracy through which extortion proceeds were laundered.
Hernandez and Miranda must also pay a $75,000 fine, while Fernandez was ordered to pay $50,000. Restitution will be determined at a later date.
“The danger and the harm to the American people by the use of violence and extortion to fix prices and monopolize the market for an essential service in the Texas border region cannot be understated,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Hernandez and Miranda must also pay a $75,000 fine, while Fernandez was ordered to pay $50,000. Restitution will be determined at a later date.
“The danger and the harm to the American people by the use of violence and extortion to fix prices and monopolize the market for an essential service in the Texas border region cannot be understated,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
“Today’s sentences demonstrate the Antitrust Division’s commitment to pursuing incarceration for both white-collar and violent criminals who seek to exploit America’s free markets.”
“The FBI remains committed to combatting the use of threats, violence and corrupt business practices such as price-fixing that harm honest business owners and undermine fair competition,” said Special Agent in Charge Aaron Tapp of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office. “Together with our law enforcement partners, we will leverage each other’s expertise and capabilities to dismantle every facet of transnational criminal organizations.”
“These sentencings reaffirm our unwavering commitment to safeguarding economic integrity at our nation’s borders,” said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) San Antonio. “By dismantling an enterprise that thrived on extortion and price fixing, we are ensuring that honest businesses can compete on a level playing field. This case exemplifies how corruption in niche industries can have far-reaching effects, and HSI will continue to pursue those who abuse the system for profit.”
Transmigrantes transport used vehicles and goods from the United States through Mexico for resale in Central America. Only a few U.S. border crossings, including the Los Indios Bridge, allow transmigrantes to enter Mexico.
Transmigrante forwarding agencies are U.S.-based businesses that help clients complete customs paperwork to export vehicles into Mexico. Co-conspirators fixed prices for forwarding services and created a centralized entity, known as the “pool,” to collect and divide revenue among conspirators. They used the pool to eliminate competition and raise prices.
Some also conspired to force forwarding agencies to pay money to the pool and to pay other extortion fees including a “piso” for every transaction processed in the industry as well as a fine for operating in the market outside of rules. The conspirators perpetrated acts of intimidation, coercion and violence in furtherance of the antitrust and extortion conspiracies.
To date, five others have been convicted, four of whom have already been sentenced in the case, including the leader - Carlos Martinez, 39, McAllen, who received an 11-year prison term.
Three others - Rigoberto Brown, Miguel Hipolito Caballero Aupart and Diego Ceballos-Soto were also charged in the superseding indictment and remain fugitives. Anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VCRS), U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, ICE-HSI and FBI conducted the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander L. Alum prosecuted the case along with Trial Attorneys Anne Veldhuis, Brittany E. McClure and Michael G. Lepage and Senior Litigation Counsel John Davis of the Antitrust Division and VCRS Trial Attorney Christina Taylor.
Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.
“The FBI remains committed to combatting the use of threats, violence and corrupt business practices such as price-fixing that harm honest business owners and undermine fair competition,” said Special Agent in Charge Aaron Tapp of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office. “Together with our law enforcement partners, we will leverage each other’s expertise and capabilities to dismantle every facet of transnational criminal organizations.”
“These sentencings reaffirm our unwavering commitment to safeguarding economic integrity at our nation’s borders,” said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) San Antonio. “By dismantling an enterprise that thrived on extortion and price fixing, we are ensuring that honest businesses can compete on a level playing field. This case exemplifies how corruption in niche industries can have far-reaching effects, and HSI will continue to pursue those who abuse the system for profit.”
Transmigrantes transport used vehicles and goods from the United States through Mexico for resale in Central America. Only a few U.S. border crossings, including the Los Indios Bridge, allow transmigrantes to enter Mexico.
Some also conspired to force forwarding agencies to pay money to the pool and to pay other extortion fees including a “piso” for every transaction processed in the industry as well as a fine for operating in the market outside of rules. The conspirators perpetrated acts of intimidation, coercion and violence in furtherance of the antitrust and extortion conspiracies.
To date, five others have been convicted, four of whom have already been sentenced in the case, including the leader - Carlos Martinez, 39, McAllen, who received an 11-year prison term.
Three others - Rigoberto Brown, Miguel Hipolito Caballero Aupart and Diego Ceballos-Soto were also charged in the superseding indictment and remain fugitives. Anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VCRS), U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, ICE-HSI and FBI conducted the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander L. Alum prosecuted the case along with Trial Attorneys Anne Veldhuis, Brittany E. McClure and Michael G. Lepage and Senior Litigation Counsel John Davis of the Antitrust Division and VCRS Trial Attorney Christina Taylor.
Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.
14 comments:
They should have gotten more time. We are always bitching about middlemen or those doing this type of crap. But these fuckers were violent and this is low level shit but hustling and trying to control like a mob family.
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No problem what so ever, put a red on this guys , forget it
It's about time, these people have been getting away with this for a long time. Some names are missing in this article. Maybe because they flipped and gave up the other rats to save their own hide. There is no honor among these crooks.
I cannot stomach Donald Trump's constant lies spewing out his big, fat mouth. I hate his cruelty. But most of all I hate that he gets away with it! He should be live fact checked every single time he opens his garbage can mouth!!!
Gobierno de EU reporta baja del 12% en intentos de cruce fronterizo de migrantes indocumentados
La contracción en el intento de cruces de inmigrantes indocumentados es el reflejo de las tácticas de Trump para tratar como criminales a las personas que pretenden llegar a Estados Unidos sin documentos para vivir y trabajar.
IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY the chimera was part lion, part goat and part snake, but wholly monstrous. Despite its name, there is a chimerical air to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBB), the Republican tax-and-spending plan lurching through Congress this week. It sutures to a body of government-shrinking Reaganism an appendage of populist Trumpism, both disfigured by carve-outs and fillips for individual lawmakers. It will menace the American economy for at least a decade.
This disastrous BB bill MUST fail, and the financial tragedy pales to the authoritarian bullcrap in it. Why aren't people focusing on actually losing our right to vote?????
Old news
Who is responsible for overseeing the transmigrate industry?
Why didn't you fact check Biden? Biden was one of the most corrupt presidents. But everyone was silent. Why? Does your indoctrination go that deep? Trump is our president! Live with it or move to another country and be happy.
What makes you a scholar in economics?
Get over it. Remember the price of eggs that democrats made such a big stink about? Democrats are always crying wolf. It took decades and many presidents to create the huge debt. It will take decades to correct it. Patience.
They'll never pay the fines
What about Linda Guerrero Transmigramtes ?
Yes, some names are missing , especially a woman’s name that lives in Brownsville . They all want to live high lifestyles with crooked illegal activities .
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