Cesar Campos-Reyes, the owner of numerous Mexican restaurants involved in an ICE and FBI raid last year, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of wire fraud, money laundering and employing unauthorized workers.
According to court documents and admissions made as part of his guilty plea, in May 2020, Campos-Reyes fraudulently applied for and received approximately $866,500 in funds through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. The PPP and EIDL programs were established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide financial assistance to eligible small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Campos‑Reyes admitted that he did not use the relief funds for their intended purposes. Instead, in June 2020, he used $262,145.20 to purchase real property located in Opelika, Alabama.
Campos‑Reyes further admitted that, up to July 15, 2025, he knowingly hired and employed workers at multiple restaurants he owned or operated, fully aware that they were not permitted to work in the United States.
“Federal COVID relief funds were intended to help legitimate businesses and their employees, not to be diverted for personal gain or used to support an unlawful workforce,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas Govan. “This defendant defrauded programs designed to assist American businesses, misused taxpayer-funded assistance, and knowingly employed individuals who were not authorized to work in the United States. We will continue to hold accountable those who abuse federal programs and violate federal law.”
Campos-Reyes is a U.S. citizen and he never faced any charges relating to drugs, nor were any charges brought that Campos-Reyes facilitated any trafficking of drugs. Initial releases from the federal agencies involved brought Campos-Reyes’ citizenship into question,—although agents quickly clarified that he is indeed a citizen. Because guns and drugs were seized during the course of the raids, rumors also spread that the restaurants might be somehow involved in the trafficking of drugs. Almost all of the drugs and guns were found in a single private residence, however, tied to another man that lived on Campos-Reyes’ property.
A sentencing hearing for Campos-Reyes will be scheduled in the coming months. At that hearing, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud, up to 10 years for money laundering, and up to six months in prison for unlawful employment. Campos-Reyes also faces substantial fines and the forfeiture of proceeds seized during the investigation. A federal district judge will determine Campos-Reyes’s sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.
“Fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief funds and knowingly employing unauthorized workers undermines both the integrity of federal programs and the rule of law,” said HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Ellen Johnson. “HSI will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to investigate individuals who exploit taxpayer-funded programs and violate our nation’s employment laws for personal gain.”
A press release announcing the guilty plea credits the support of the Homeland Security Task Force established by President Donald Trump by executive order in 2025. This task force is described as being dedicated to “eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad,” and “… prosecut(ing) and remov(ing) the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.”
However, there have been no charges made by the federal government that Campos-Reyes participated in human smuggling or trafficking in his employment of unauthorized workers, nor any charges of violence or any other criminal activity outside the COVID-related fraud.
