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Mexican Citizen Accused of Spying for Russians in the U.S. Mexican Citizen Is Accused of Spying for Russians in the U.S.
(about 7 hours later)
Federal officials have arrested a Mexican citizen for allegedly acting on behalf of a Russian agent who recruited him to collect information about the U.S. government and met repeatedly with him in Moscow. Federal officials have arrested a man who they said acted on behalf of a Russian agent who recruited him to collect information about the U.S. government and met repeatedly with him in Moscow.
Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes and his wife were about to board a plane back to their native Mexico from Miami on Sunday, when a customs official asked to inspect their phones. Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes and his wife were about to board a plane to their native Mexico from Miami on Sunday when a customs official asked to inspect their phones.
The official looked in a file of recently deleted images on the phone of Mr. Fuentes’s wife, and found a close-up photograph of a license plate. The plate belonged to the vehicle of a U.S. government source, federal prosecutors said in a statement. The official looked in a file of recently deleted images on Mr. Fuentes’s wife’s phone and found a close-up photograph of a license plate. The plate belonged to the vehicle of a confidential U.S. government source who had been providing information about the Russian Intelligence Service, according to a criminal affidavit filed in federal court in Miami.
Mr. Fuentes admitted to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that he had told his wife, who was not named in the statement, to take the picture. Mr. Fuentes admitted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents that he had told his wife, whom federal prosecutors did not identify by name, to take the picture, according to the affidavit.
It turned out, federal prosecutors said, that Mr. Fuentes was acting on behalf of a Russian government official who had recruited him in 2019 to rent property in Miami-Dade County and gather information. It turned out, federal prosecutors said, that Mr. Fuentes was acting on behalf of a Russian government official who had recruited him in 2019. Specifically, the Russian official wanted him to rent an apartment in the condominium complex where the U.S. source lived and get information about his vehicle.
“The Russian official told Fuentes not to rent the apartment in Fuentes’s own name and not to tell his family about their meetings,” according to a statement from the Department of Justice. Mr. Fuentes met with the Russian official twice in Moscow, it said. The U.S. source had provided information on Russian intelligence activities “implicating national security interests in the United States,” according to the affidavit.
During the second meeting this month, the official gave Mr. Fuentes a physical description of a U.S. government source’s vehicle. “Russian intelligence services are well-funded, aggressive and politically protected,” the affidavit said. “The R.I.S. is focused, among other things, on influencing the foreign policy of other countries, including the United States, and obtaining highly sensitive and confidential information from those countries.”
The Russian official “told Fuentes to locate the car, obtain the source’s vehicle license plate number, and note the physical location of the source’s vehicle,” according to the statement. Mr. Fuentes said the Russian official approached him in May 2019 when he went to Russia to visit his other wife and her two daughters, who had been detained there.
The two were supposed to meet again around April or May so that Mr. Fuentes could give him the information, officials said in the statement. Mr. Fuentes is married to two women, according to the affidavit.
Federal officials said Mr. Fuentes and his wife rented a car, and on Friday they followed the U.S. source home. Russian customs officials had refused to let the wife and the two children depart after visiting the country.
A security guard on the premises became suspicious of the couple because the rental car had tailgated another vehicle to get inside the building complex. “We can help each other,” the Russian official told Mr. Fuentes, according to federal prosecutors.
As the guard approached Mr. Fuentes, his wife got out of the car and snapped a photo of the government source’s vehicle, federal officials said. Soon, according to federal prosecutors, Mr. Fuentes was involved in a conspiracy to collect information about the U.S. government source that would drag his Mexican wife into the plot and lead to the filing of federal charges against him.
The guard asked the couple what they were doing there, and Mr. Fuentes said they were visiting someone at the building. Mr. Fuentes would see the Russian official several times in Moscow to plan the operation, according to federal officials.
He told F.B.I. agents that the Russian official told him “not to rent the apartment in Fuentes’s own name and not to tell his Russian family about their meetings,” according to the affidavit.
Mr. Fuentes told the F.B.I. that he believed the Russian official was a member of the Federal Security Service, which is responsible for Russia’s counterintelligence operations, according to the criminal complaint.
During one of their meetings, the official gave Mr. Fuentes a physical description of a U.S. government source’s vehicle.
The Russian official “told Fuentes to locate the car, obtain the source’s vehicle license plate number and note the physical location of the source’s vehicle,” according to federal prosecutors.
The official told Mr. Fuentes not to take a picture of it.
Mr. Fuentes and the Russian official were supposed to meet again in April or May so Mr. Fuentes could give him the information, federal officials said.
In December, Mr. Fuentes gave an associate $20,000 to rent the apartment, according to the affidavit.
On Feb. 13, Mr. Fuentes rented a Chrysler and the next day he and his wife drove to the condominium complex.
A security guard there became suspicious of the couple because the rental car had tailgated another vehicle to get inside the complex, according to federal officials.
A guard approached Mr. Fuentes. While they spoke, his wife got out of the car and snapped a photo of the government source’s vehicle, federal officials said.
The guard asked the couple what they were doing there, and Mr. Fuentes said they were visiting someone.
“Security did not recognize the person as living there and told Fuentes to leave the premises,” federal officials said.“Security did not recognize the person as living there and told Fuentes to leave the premises,” federal officials said.
When Mr. Fuentes was questioned about the photo two days later at the airport, he admitted he had been directed by a Russian government official to conduct the operation, the officials said.
Mr. Fuentes has been charged with acting on behalf of a foreign agent without notifying the attorney general. He has also been charged with conspiracy to act on behalf of a foreign agent.Mr. Fuentes has been charged with acting on behalf of a foreign agent without notifying the attorney general. He has also been charged with conspiracy to act on behalf of a foreign agent.
At a hearing in Miami federal court on Tuesday, Mr. Fuentes said he had a variety of jobs, including one as a researcher at the National University of Singapore, where he earned $7,500 a month, according to The Miami Herald. At a hearing in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, Mr. Fuentes said he had a variety of jobs, including one as a researcher at the National University of Singapore, where he earned $7,500 a month, according to The Miami Herald.
Mr. Fuentes also told a magistrate judge he earned $5,000 a month from an Israeli company based in Germany and had about $100,000 in bank accounts in Mexico, Singapore and the United States, according to the newspaper. Mr. Fuentes also told a magistrate judge that he earned $5,000 a month from an Israeli company based in Germany and had about $100,000 in bank accounts in Mexico, Singapore and the United States, The Miami Herald reported.
Mr. Fuentes is listed on the National University of Singapore website as one of the lead researchers of a 2016 study on cardiovascular disease.In 2015, he gave a presentation at a conference hosted by the European Society of Cardiology in London. In his bio, Mr. Fuentes was described as a graduate of Kazan University in Russia, where he obtained a degree in molecular biology and microbiology. Mr. Fuentes is listed on the website of the National University of Singapore as one of the lead researchers of a 2016 study on cardiovascular disease. In 2015, he gave a presentation at a conference in London hosted by the European Society of Cardiology. A bio for the conference describes Mr. Fuentes as a graduate of Kazan Federal University in Russia, where it says he obtained a degree in molecular biology.
He will be arraigned on March 3 in Miami federal court, federal officials said. It was not clear from the affidavit if the women identified as his wives knew about each other. Federal officials did not say what happened to Mr. Fuentes’s family in Russia.
He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 3 in federal court in Miami, officials said.