Scientist who led double life with families on two continents admits spying for Russia in Miami

Hector Cabrera Fuentes was arrested in 2020 in Florida and faces four years in prison

Hector Cabrera Fuentes (esc365.escardio.org)

A leading Mexican scientist who led a double life with families on two continents has pleaded guilty to spying for Russia in Miami.

Hector Cabrera Fuentes, 37, was arrested in 2020 and accused of assisting Russian intelligence in a botched surveillance mission in Florida.

Prosecutors say that while he was living and working as a researcher with the National Heart Centre Singapore he was recruited by a Russian government official in 2019.

He was ordered to rent an apartment in Florida’s Miami-Dade County and during a trip to Moscow in February 2020 was given details of a vehicle used by a US government source.

Court papers state that Cabrera was then instructed to find the vehicle, obtain its licence plate number, without taking any photographs, and report the information back to his Russian handler.

But Fuentes and his Mexican wife were seen by a security guard at a Miami-area condominium taking photos of the source’s car and licence plate.

He was then arrested at Miami International Airport as he and his wife tried to return to their home in Mexico City.

Prosecutors say that he was recruited by Russian intelligence when his second wife – a Russian – and her two daughters, travelled from Germany to Russia for a bureaucratic matter.

When the family tried to return to Germany she was prevented by officials from leaving, according to an FBI affidavit in the case.

When Cabrera travelled to Russia to see his wife and try to sort out the situation he was contacted by a Russian official he had known professionally.

He was warned that his Russian family should not travel to Europe or seek a US visa, and began to suspect that the individual worked for Russia’s FSB, the country’s main security agency, according to the FBI.

During a follow-up meeting, the individual produced emails from the suspect that showed he was looking for real estate in Miami.

The Russian official brought up Cabrera’s family situation and told the scientist, “We can help each other,” according to the indictment.

The individual Cabrera was tasked to trail is not named in court papers and is described as a US government “confidential human source” who had provided information on Russian intelligence  activities.

“The manner in which the defendant communicated with the Russian government official and his undertakings in this case are consistent with the tactics of the Russian intelligence services for spotting, assessing, recruiting, and handling intelligence assets and sources,” a factual statement filed with Cabrera’s plea agreement read.

Cabrera agreed a plea deal in Miami federal court, with prosecutors looking for a four-year prison sentence on a single charge of acting in the US on behalf of a foreign government without notifying the US attorney general.

He has been held without bond at the Federal Detention Center for two years and will be sentenced on 17 May.