A man jailed in Florida while awaiting a federal trial reportedly might not be behind bars if only he had waited two decades to allegedly ship $93,000 worth of goods from Miami to Cuba.
The Miami Herald reports that Pedro Adriano Borges, 68, was a couple of years ahead of a law covering the trade embargo against Cuba in 2002 and is now awaiting federal trial under a 1997 indictment alleging that he and four other men illegally shipped 18 containers to Cuba.
The goods sent between 1993 and 1996 included spices and mayonnaise as well as light bulbs and diapers, according to court documents in the case. Those who received the shipment in Cuba paid $93,000 for the containers, the newspaper reports.
The Cuba-born Borges had fled to Costa Rica three years before those charges were filed, breaking his parole on a prior charge of money laundering in New Jersey. He was later detained in Panama in November and was put on a plane to Florida.
He now faces up to 35 years in prison, including 20 years for helping to launder the money that went from Cuba to Miami to pay for the shipments.
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