An indictment was unsealed in Salt Lake City, Utah, charging 12 foreign nationals with bank fraud and engaging in transactions involving criminally derived property. The individuals were indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2025 at the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Eleven of the defendants are Venezuelan nationals, and one is a Colombian national. They are accused of participating in a scheme to defraud banks both in Utah and elsewhere.
Court documents indicate that between January 2023 and June 2023, the defendants opened accounts at financial institutions and presented fraudulent cashier’s checks for deposit. In some cases, they deposited multiple counterfeit checks at different branches on the same day. The funds were then laundered through checks, cashier’s checks, and cash withdrawals.
The defendants reside in 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
Acting United States Attorney Felice John Viti for the District of Utah announced the charges.
The investigation is being conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) along with an HSI Task Force Officer from the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorneys Brent L. Andrus and Carl D. Lesueur from the District of Utah are handling prosecution duties.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America—a nationwide initiative aimed at countering illegal immigration and eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs). It involves resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
It should be noted that an indictment is merely an allegation; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
