Juan Carlos Cairo-Padron and Thomas Fortinberry face federal charges for smuggling, money laundering, and violating the US sanctions by supplying Venezuelan state entities.

A federal criminal complaint accused Juan Carlos Cairo-Padron, 56, of Huntsville, Texas, and Thomas Michael Fortinberry, 51, of Decatur, Alabama, of violating US sanctions against Venezuela, illegally smuggling goods from the US, and money laundering, which resulted in their June 13, 2025, arrest. Today, the defendants will appear in court for the first time in the Southern District of Texas.

The complaint claims that Fortinberry, a US citizen, and Cairo, a Venezuelan national with US permanent residency, took part in a years-long scheme to supply industrial equipment, chemical catalysts, and related services to US-sanctioned petrochemical companies and state-owned steel mills in Venezuela.

In order to hide the fact that the goods and services were going to sanctioned entities, Cairo and Fortinberry's scheme used foreign bank accounts to transfer money into and out of the US, as well as front companies in the US and abroad to act as middlemen on shipping documents.

According to allegations, Cairo and Fortinberry sold millions of dollars' worth of catalysts, industrial equipment, and associated support to the Venezuelan steel company COMSIGUA, which is to be bought by the Venezuelan government and is subject to US sanctions, starting at least in 2022 and continuing to the present.

Cairo and Fortinberry could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in jail for the sanctions and money laundering offenses, and 10 years in prison for the smuggling offense, if found guilty. The US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory considerations will be taken into account by a federal district court judge before imposing any punishment.