Published on: June 9, 2026, 11:17h.
Updated on: June 9, 2026, 11:17h.
- DOJ aims to strip citizenship due to concealed casino fraud involvement
- Woman laundered funds from Miccosukee Casino fraud before naturalization
- Gaming voucher scam siphoned millions from tribal casino
A woman of Cuban descent, sentenced for her role in a $5.3 million fraud against Miami’s Miccosukee Casino & Resort, is one of 17 naturalized citizens facing denaturalization under the Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday its intention to revoke the citizenship of all 17 individuals, citing their alleged failure to disclose previous criminal activities to immigration authorities.
Milagros Marileisis Acosta Torres was found guilty in 2020 for her part in laundering money connected to a scheme that tampered with gaming machines at the Miccosukee Casino. At the time of her naturalization application on August 19, 2015, she was actively involved in illegal activities, according to the DOJ.
Upon inquiring whether she had committed any crimes for which she had not been arrested, she misleadingly answered “no,” the DOJ reported.
Manipulation of Gaming Machines
Acosta Torres is married to Yohander Jorrin Melhen, a machine technician at the casino. Together with three accomplices, Jorrin orchestrated a theft of $5.3 million from the resort by creating fictitious credit vouchers exchangeable for cash on the casino floor.
According to prosecutors, the four casino employees pretended to perform maintenance on gaming machines, allowing them to manipulate the machines to record inflated “coin-in” amounts.
The fraudulent machines generated counterfeit credit vouchers, which non-employees redeemed for cash.
To conceal their operations, the conspirators performed hard resets, or “RAM clears,” on the terminals, erasing the records of the manipulated coin-in amounts. This scam ran from January 2011 until May 2015, as per prosecutors’ statements.
Tracing the Money
Prosecutors allege that Acosta Torres actively laundered the funds from the Miccosukee Casino scheme by depositing stolen cash into her-controlled bank accounts. She reportedly structured some deposits to dodge reporting thresholds, thereby masking at least $147,970 of illicit money.
After pleading guilty in January 2020 to conspiracy for money laundering, Acosta Torres received a six-month sentence in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Additionally, the court mandated her to pay $147,970 in restitution and forfeit her stakes in several properties.
Jorrin was sentenced to 51 months in prison for his involvement in conspiracy computer fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. Other co-conspirators received similar sentences.