U.S. authorities are searching for a couple accused of participating in a million-dollar fraud scheme involving loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which included fraudulent applications linked to more than 100 Cuban immigrants.
The case was highlighted this Monday by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche during an event in Kansas City led by Vice President J.D. Vance, where the Donald Trump administration announced a new offensive against fraud involving federal funds during the pandemic.
According to CBS News, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Iowa has charged Adrián Rafael Pupo Pérez and Helen Yaima Leyva Santiesteban with 47 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
Both remain fugitives, according to the Department of Justice.
"This couple has fled the country [...] and remains at large, but we are working hard to bring them back," said Blanche while presenting the case as one of the examples of fraud pursued by federal authorities.
Prosecutors assert that Pupo Pérez, Leyva Santiesteban, and more than 100 individuals were involved in a scheme that included approximately 470 fraudulent PPP applications submitted under the names of individuals located in various places across the United States, reported CBS News.
The scheme aimed to obtain more than 4.5 million dollars in public funds, and approximately 2.4 million were eventually disbursed, according to the same source.
During her intervention, Blanche specifically focused on the Cuban immigrants linked to the scheme.
The Attorney General explained that fraudulent loan applications were submitted or attempted "in the name of more than a hundred immigrants from Cuba." He detailed that the applications falsely claimed that these individuals were self-employed and that each had earned approximately $100,000 in gross income during 2019, before the pandemic.
In reality, Blanche indicated, they were not self-employed workers, but rather worked at a meat processing plant in northern Iowa or held other jobs in that region.
The case has prior reported records. One of those prosecuted in the same federal case was the Cuban Yovany Ciero, a former sergeant of the Cuban Armed Forces and a worker at a meat processing plant in Algona, Iowa.
Ciero was found guilty in May 2025 of three charges of electronic fraud, 23 charges of money laundering, one for conducting a monetary transaction involving property derived from illicit activity, and another for conspiracy to launder money.
The Department of Justice explained then that Ciero was one of six intermediaries or "bundlers" in the scheme. His role involved recruiting individuals, obtaining their personal information for fraudulent applications, and delivering that information to those filing requests with the participating financial entities in the PPP.
The authorities noted that Ciero and over a hundred Cuban immigrants obtained fraudulent loans claiming they were self-employed and earned around $100,000 annually, when in fact they were working at the meat processing plant or in other jobs.
Ciero was sentenced in December 2025 to four years in federal prison and to pay $212,293 in restitution. The Department of Justice then indicated that he was the fifth former worker from Iowa meat processing plants sentenced for his involvement in the scheme.
The investigation came to the forefront this Monday as part of a broader federal government crackdown on fraud related to the aid programs established during the pandemic.
According to CBS News, the operation announced by the authorities includes cases against more than 160 defendants related to an estimated 245 million dollars in anticipated losses for taxpayers.
Vance also announced the suspension of approximately 870,000 borrowers from the Small Business Administration (SBA), who will be barred from accessing certain loans and federal programs due to suspected fraud.
Blanche used the Iowa case to illustrate the scope of the investigations and warned that the Department of Justice will continue to pursue those who have defrauded federal programs, including those who left the United States to evade authorities.
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