A Mexican national, who was residing in Singapore, plead guilty this week to doing things on behalf of the Russian government, officials stated.
According to court documents, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, 36, acted under the direction and control of an individual he believed to be a Russian government official.
Fuentes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 17, in Miami, and faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison.
According to officials, Fuentes was instructed by this Russian official, Fuentes, a Mexican citizen who has spent significant time in Russia, arranged for an intermediary to lease a unit in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
This unit was where a specified U.S. person lived who had previously provided information about the Russian government to the U.S. government.
Fuentes also traveled to Miami in February 2020 to obtain the license plate number and parking location of the specified U.S. person’s car.
Fuentes’s travel companion, at his request, took a photo of the specified U.S. person’s car.
A WhatsApp message from Fuentes’s travel companion to Fuentes contained a close-up photograph of the specified U.S. person’s car.
The manner in which Fuentes communicated with the Russian government official and his undertakings, in this case, are consistent with the tactics of the Russian intelligence services for spotting, assessing, recruiting, and handling intelligence assets and sources, according to officials.
The FBI and CBP are investigating the case.