A couple from Miami used the airport lounge to steal millions of dollars

The Club America Lounge, located in the corner of Hall F at Miami International Airport, presents itself as an opportunity to escape from the crowd and take a break; visitors need to buy an entrance ticket for $ 40 for this service.

Фото: Depositphotos

However, judging by the reviews on travel sites, dry biscuits, warm drinks, polyester chairs and slow Wi-Fi did not provide visitors with the feeling that they are VIP persons, writes Miami Herald.

This in itself is not a crime, however Club america lounge served as the headquarters for a family money laundering operation that stole millions of dollars from airport revenues.

Former manager Club America Elena Iglesias and her husband, Lazaro Iglesias, pleaded guilty to organized fraud, theft and money laundering. Each of them must now spend three years in prison and pay 2,6 million dollars in restitution. After that, they will serve a conditional sentence for 10 years.

The third defendant is 50-year-old Malena Rodriguez, secretary working under the direction of Elena Iglesias. She also pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to nine months in prison. She will have to pay 355 705 dollars of restitution.

The fraudulent scheme was very simple. Airlines often provide regular passengers with vouchers for visiting lounges such as Club Americamanaged by a company called International Airport Management Inc. Airlines reimburse the company the cost of vouchers.

Investigators found that over the years, the three defendants transferred about 20% of the total income received Club America from airlines, to personal accounts. This became possible due to the fact that the scammers used a shell company with a similar name - Iami club amer inc. - which allowed them to transfer money to their accounts, and inspectors often did not notice minor differences in the names of the companies.

When the fraud was disclosed, the documentary evidence was enough to force the suspects to admit their guilt.

The couple spent the stolen money to pay off debts on credit cards, car loans and mortgages.

Prior to this, the Iglesias had no criminal history. 49-year-old Elena Iglesias began working in the lounge at the airport at the age of 18 years, starting as a hostess. She also wrote the texts for the weekly newsletter and managed databases for Glory house, a non-profit organization to assist victims of sex trafficking.

50-year-old Lazaro Iglesias 13 worked for years in the Aviation Administration of Miami-Dade, moving from the post of parking permit to terminal operations manager.

He claimed that his life was marred by injuries. One day, Lazaro witnessed a man crashing to death, falling from an elevator platform. Another time, in the middle of 1980, Iglesias examined the baggage and found two dismembered bodies in a vacuum package. Later it turned out that these were the bodies of people who were supposed to be witnesses in the case of drug trafficking in Colombia.

Lazaro Iglesias was also responsible for informing the relatives of the victims of the crash. Valujet in the 1996 year, which killed 110 people.

He was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

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