September 18, 2026 – FRESNO, CA – Juliet Mora, 42, residing in Nicaragua formerly of Hayward, California, pleaded guilty September 14 to conspiracy to commit money laundering involving a $36 million fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

According to court documents, Mora was part of a sophisticated transnational fraud organization operating out of the United States and several countries in Latin America responsible for stealing more than $36 million from more than 400 American victims, mostly the elderly. The fraudsters pretended to be attorneys who reached out to elderly timeshare owners and fraud victims with the promise that the victims were entitled to restitution and payments. Believing they were talking to real attorneys, the victims signed fake representation agreements and bogus non-disclosure agreements, then paid fees to the fraudsters. The victims were directed to send checks and wire transfers to shell companies controlled by U.S.-based co-conspirators.

The organization used a complicated web of U.S.-based members who created shell companies and bank accounts to launder victim money. The members evaded financial institutions’ anti-money laundering procedures by misrepresenting to financial institutions the true purpose and nature of their activities. Members intentionally and fraudulently misrepresented the true nature of the transactions to conceal their actions.

Mora became involved in the fraud scheme in August 2021. Throughout the scheme, she maintained shell companies and received more than $1,569,826 in victim funds. Investigators traced $2,749,649 in stolen victim funds directly to accounts controlled by Mora. Mora lied to banks to conceal the true nature and origin of the funds. She would open and reopen bank accounts closed for suspicious activity, and on several occasions she would directly deposit victim funds into her shell company’s bank account.

Mora eventually moved to Nicaragua where she became an organizer within the fraud scheme. There, she communicated with the US-based co-conspirators, directed them to receive and send victim funds, open shell companies, and prepare legal documents to help perpetrate the fraud. She also used fake emails of fake paralegals to communicate directly with victims. Mora was arrested on a second superseding indictment after arriving in Boston Logan International Airport from Panama City, Panama in December 2025. 

In October 2025, investigators arrested 15 US-based defendants across four states and seized more than $2.1 million in victims funds. Several defendants, however, fled to Mexico and other Central American countries. Recently several of these defendants have been arrested and returned to the United States. In July 2025, local Nicaraguan authorities, in coordination with Department of State Diplomatic Services arrested one of the main subjects of this investigation, Marlon Solis Bonilla. He was transferred to United States custody and escorted by FBI Agents from Managua, Nicaragua to Houston, Texas.

Additionally, in August 2026, Mexican authorities arrested defendants Julian Jauregui, Sergio Jauregui, and Eduardo Navarro in Guadalajara, Mexico. This apprehension operation was facilitated by FBI Legat Mexico City in coordination with the U.S. Marshals Service and Secretaría de Seguridad del Estado de Jalisco. All three detained individuals were transported to Mexico Immigration (INM) where they were processed for deportation and subsequently removed to the United States. Three defendants are still at large.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Bakersfield Police Department conducted the investigation with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Truckee Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cody S. Chapple and Arelis M. Clemente are prosecuting the case.

Mora is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on December 14, 2026. Mora faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, or twice the amount laundered whichever is greater. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Source: DOJ Release