Criminal charges were filed in Fort Lauderdale federal court today accusing two Florida men of obtaining licenses for religious travel to Cuba on behalf of nonexistent churches and then illegally using the licenses to sell trips to Cuba to about 4,500 people, charging each a $250 fee.
David Margolis of Fort Lauderdale and Victor Vazquez of Winter Garden were charged with conspiracy to violate Cuba-related travel regulations. Vazquez was also charged with making false statements in applications to obtain religious travel licenses to Cuba.
The case is the first criminal prosecution of violations for Cuba travel since the formation in October of a special team of federal and local law enforcement investigators assigned to root out breaches of the 43-year-old trade embargo against Cuba.
Senior federal law enforcement officials today credited the Cuban Sanctions Enforcement Task Force with discovering the alleged scheme attributed to Margolis and Vazquez.
Alex Acosta, the U.S. attorney in Miami, said the special task force and the case unveiled today demonstrate the commitment of the American government to tightly enforce the trade embargo against Cuba as a way to ”hasten” democracy in the communist island.
If the government really wants to demonstrate a commitment to enforcing the embargo why don’t they go after groups like Pastors for Peace, United for Peace and Justice, Global Exchange, and their money launderers.
Read the rest of the story at the Miami Herald.
Hey wait a second. How could this happen? It’s not an election year!
[/sarcasm]
Hey wait a second. How could this happen? It’s not an election year!
[/sarcasm]
Hang ’em high.
It looks like a bad joke, of course, when this is rampant all over the place, BUT …. we have to be thankful for small favors.
Dont’ fool yourself Henry, It is posturing time. They go after the little fish in order to avoid the big fish.
What about the pinko group?How come they won’t go and nail all of them since they post about breaking the laws right on the internet?
They won’t touch sheehan as she is politically a hazard, they won’t touch pastors for peace (a/k/a liars for communism), they surely won’t touch anyone that might be a political hazard. These guys who lie their way into Cuba for toruist reasons need to get caught. The problem is that they are the token proof of enforcement.