Lee County resident Cesar Campos-Reyes made his first appearance in federal court Friday in Montgomery after turning himself in on a federal indictment alleging he misused Covid-era relief funds.
Campos-Reyes pleaded not guilty to the the nine federal charges laid out against him in the indictment including four charges of bank fraud relating to misuse of Paycheck Protection Program funds, four charges of wire fraud relating to misuse of Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds and one county of money laundering.
The brief hearing did not offer many details outside of the claims made in an April indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors Tuesday ahead of the statewide raid that saw searches carried out at eight Mexican restaurants and six residences. The raids led to three additional federal arrests and 48 detentions of alleged undocumented immigrants by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
The indictment against Campos-Reyes alleges that he submitted four PPP loan applications for his restaurants with the knowledge that the money must be used toward eligible expenses including retaining workers or paying mortgage interest. The four loan amounts according to the indictment were $70,600 for Mariachi’s Mexican Grill, $54,700 for El Patron of Pace, $74,700 for El Patron of Pensacola, and $26,900 for El Patron of Prattville.
The indictment also alleges that Campos-Reyes applied for and received wire transfers from the EIDL loan program in the amount of $149,900 each for El Patron of Pace, El Patron of Prattville, Mariachi’s Mexican Grill and El Rey de Todos (now El Jefe and no longer owned by Campos-Reyes).
The indictment alleges these funds were all transferred to Campos-Reyes’ personal Regions bank account and not used for eligible expenses.
It also alleges one count of money laundering based on an outgoing wire transfer from Campos-Reyes account in the amount of $262,451.
Richard Matthews, counsel representing Campos-Reyes, noted the likelihood of an upcoming superseding indictment against Campos-Reyes, but no further information is yet available about what the indictment may entail. Citing that forthcoming indictment, as well as 43,000 pages of discovery to review from the Department of Justice, Matthews requested that the judge set the trial date for Nov. 3, 2025 rather than proceed on an earlier docket in August.
The Department of Justice has an out-standing motion that Campos-Reyes should remain in detention on the grounds that he is a flight risk, but Matthews said Campos-Reyes plans to dispute that request. The detention hearing will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 23.
Federal prosecutors have filed complaints against three other individuals arrested during Tuesday’s raids and all three will make their first appearances in federal court this afternoon bringing at 3 p.m.
Luis Miguel Campos-Reyes and Isaac Fernandez Lopez faces charges of harboring illegal aliens while Marco Antonio Guzman Ramirez faces a charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
