Source: Office of United States Attorneys
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – An indictment was unsealed today charging a dozen foreign nationals of bank fraud and engaging in transactions involving criminally derived property. The defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2025 at the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Eleven Venezuelan nationals and one Colombian national are accused of committing financial fraud crimes after they allegedly participated in a scheme to defraud banks in Utah and elsewhere.
According to court documents, between January 2023 and June 2023, the defendants were involved in a scheme to defraud financial institutions by opening accounts and presenting fraudulent cashier’s checks to be deposited to those accounts. In some instances, defendants deposited multiple counterfeit checks at different branches on the same day. Defendants then laundered the funds by check, cashier’s check, and cash withdrawal.
Defendants are residents of Salt Lake County:
1. Gilberto Emiro Andrade-Romero, 36, of Venezuela
2. Felipe Enrique Linares-Lobo aka Carlos M. Hidalgo Noguera, 32, of Venezuela
3. Alexis Jose Calixto-Bracho, 25, of Venezuela
4. Daniel Jose Fuenmayor-leal, aka Enais Inciarte-Urdaneta, 34, of Venezuela
5. Yeritza Astrid Cuello-Plata, 40, of Venezuela
6. Federico Javier Gutierrez-Pirela, 36, of Venezuela
7. Hendry Ricardo Martinez-Concho, 42, of Venezuela
8. Cristina Paola Nava-Yoris, 24, of Venezuela
9. Patricia Del Carmen Orozco-Cuello, 37, of Colombia
10. Ismael Norberto Rodriguez-Moreno, 47, of Venezuela
11. Jorge Luis Urribarri-Vento, 32, of Venezuela
12. Rayner Jose Delgado-Quiroz, 24, of Venezuela
Acting United States Attorney Felice John Viti for the District of Utah made the announcement.
The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and a HSI Task Force Officer with the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorneys Brent L. Andrus and Carl D. Lesueur of the District of Utah are prosecuting the case.
This is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.