Florida mother-son team ran illegal $37 million mini-bank out of home, feds say

[Zorro]

They catered to contractors that hired illegal immigrants as workers and paid them cash under the table, according to authorities.

A mother and her son pretended to be in the construction business, the feds say.

But they were really running a mini-bank out of a Homestead residence that catered to local contractors that hired illegal immigrants as workers and paid them cash under the table, according to authorities.

Over the past eight years, the mother-son team operated an illegal $37 million check-cashing business while providing employee payroll services for numerous Miami-Dade construction firms and charging them huge fees, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors in Miami.

Anneri Sagrario Izurieta, 60, a lawful U.S. resident from Honduras, was ordered detained on Tuesday after a Miami federal magistrate judge found she was a flight risk to her native country — although assistant federal public defender Christian Dunham argued she should be given a bond like her son and released before trial.

“Despite Ms. Izurieta having strong familial and community ties in Florida ... Ms. Izurieta has equally strong ties in Honduras as she has an established residence in Honduras, has a Honduran bank account, and regularly visits Honduras,” Magistrate Judge Enjolique A. Lett wrote in a detention order, noting that the mother also had a prior criminal history.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2025/03/10/florida-mother-son-team-ran-illegal-37-million-mini-bank-out-home-feds-say/