The U.S. Department of Justice is moving forward with the revocation of the citizenship of Milagros Marileisis Acosta Torres, a 40-year-old Cuban resident in Miami accused of laundering money derived from a multi-million dollar fraud against a tribal casino in Florida, according to the civil complaint filed in the Southern District Court of Florida.
The denaturalization request, driven by the Trump administration, is based on the assertion that Acosta Torres obtained his citizenship fraudulently by concealing his involvement in a criminal scheme that lasted for seven years.
The fraud at Miccosukee casino
The case originates in January 2011, when Acosta Torres's husband, Johander Jorrin Melhen, an employee of Miccosukee Resort & Gaming in Miami-Dade, began to manipulate slot machines along with other accomplices to generate fraudulent credit vouchers that they would then redeem for cash.
According to the court document, "Jorrin and his accomplices caused the slot machines to generate false and fraudulent credit coupons, which they then presented to the casino in exchange for cash."
The scheme embezzled up to 5.3 million dollars from the casino and continued until October 2018.
The role of Acosta Torres in the laundering
While her husband was carrying out the fraud, Acosta Torres opened bank accounts at JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to deposit the stolen cash, structuring the deposits to not exceed 10,000 dollars in the same account on the same day in order to evade federal financial reporting requirements.
The court document specifies that "the accused opened these accounts with the intention of laundering the cash obtained from the computer fraud that Jorrin brought home from the Miccosukee Casino. Between 2011 and 2014, the accused deposited at least $39,863 in cash into one account and $16,830 into the other."
The laundered money -at least 147,970 dollars- was allocated to purchase a home in Miami, three vehicles, and prepaid college plans for their children.
Fraudulent naturalization
In August 2015, while the conspiracy was still active, Acosta Torres applied for naturalization and received it three months later.
Both in the N-400 Form and in the sworn interview, he denied having committed any crime.
The authorities indicate that "in her naturalization application, which she signed under penalty of perjury, the accused marked 'No' in response to question 22 of Part 11, which stated: 'Have you committed, assisted in committing, or attempted to commit any crime or offense for which you have not been arrested?'."
The civil lawsuit claims that Acosta Torres “applied for naturalization but did not disclose his prior criminal conduct in his application.”
Condemnation and demand for denaturalization
On July 16, 2019, authorities formally charged her with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
On January 30, 2020, he pleaded guilty and admitted to helping launder at least $147,970, knowing that the money was stolen.
She was sentenced to six months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $147,970 in restitution.
The lawsuit alleges that Acosta Torres "failed to prove that he was a person of good moral conduct," that he testified falsely about his crime, and that he deliberately misrepresented information during the naturalization process.
The Trump administration requested the court that, within ten days, Acosta Torres provide evidence of his citizenship, including his passport.
This case is part of the largest denaturalization campaign in the history of the federal government, which has also impacted other Cubans such as Mirelys Cabrera Díaz, whose citizenship was revoked in March 2026 for Medicare fraud, and Yosmaikel Rodríguez Pérez, against whom the DOJ initiated denaturalization proceedings this month for fraud amounting to nearly $887,000.
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