In a case gripping the local business community, siblings Adriana Camberos and Andres Camberos were convicted by a federal jury on October 25 of orchestrating a multi-year fraud scheme, as the U.S. Department of Justice reported. They misled manufacturers with tales of cross-border and institutional sales to acquire goods at discounted rates but sold them within the U.S. for a substantial profit.
At the heart of this scheme were the Camberos siblings' businesses, Tradeway International, Inc., Specialty Foods International, Inc., and Baja Foodservice S.R.L. de C.V. they shared resources and warehousing in San Diego and Tijuana, worked to deceive manufacturing companies with promises of distributing products in Mexico and to prisons and rehabilitation facilities when the reality, as revealed in court, was a stark betrayal of these claims. Despite their defense, they were found guilty on eight counts, including conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud with the operations resulting in gross profits of over $58 million between January 2019 and September 2023, according to evidence from the trial.
The investigation, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, uncovered a web of deceit, which included tampering with GPS devices, faking business operations, and staging market visits, detailed in the court proceedings. The siblings went to elaborate lengths to maintain the facade of their fraudulent activities, which earned them millions of dollars and enabled lavish purchases such as high-end vehicles and luxury properties, as "these defendants’ deception led to millions in illegal profits, but the gain was fleeting," said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. FBI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy added, "This conviction should send a clear message that fraud — no matter the scale — will be thoroughly investigated and those found guilty of perpetrating such schemes will be brought to justice.."
Scheduled for sentencing on March 3, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant, the Camberos siblings face a maximum penalty of two decades behind bars for each count; their case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Mellor, Peter Horn, and Jordan Arakawa, reflects a rigorous federal pursuit of justice in the economic realm. With the evidence laid out and the jury’s verdict rendered, the story of the Camberos’ fraudulent empire becomes a cautionary tale of the price of deceit in the marketplace, demonstrating the resolve of the judicial system to right the scales marred by such acts of subterfuge.