A South Bay businesswoman whose prison sentence for fraud was commuted by former President Donald Trump on his last day in office, has been convicted once again of fraud by a San Diego jury.
Among the jurys findings was that Adriana Isabel Camberos committed wire fraud just 42 days after Trump granted her clemency on Jan. 20, 2021.
The federal jury convicted Camberos, 54, and her brother Andres Andy Enrique Camberos, 45, of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and seven counts of wire fraud following an 11-day trial. The jury acquitted them on three counts of mail fraud.
These defendants deception led to millions in illegal profits, but the gain was fleeting, San Diego-area U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement Monday.
The government alleged that the siblings, who owned several businesses in the Otay Mesa area, illegally purchased wholesale groceries and other consumer goods from manufacturers at a steep discount on the promise that they would be marketed in Mexico, but instead turned around and sold the products in the more lucrative U.S. market, undercutting business rivals.
We agree they engaged in product diversion, Dan Goldman, a defense attorney for Andy Camberos, told the jury during opening statements. But he argued that selling Mexico-bound products in the U.S. was a sharp business practice and not an illegal conspiracy. He also argued that the siblings should be legally shielded because they had been acting on the advice of several lawyers who greenlit their business practices.
Attorneys for Andy Camberos did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.
Ms. Cambeross legal team is disappointed by the verdict, and it is inconsistent with legal advice Ms. Camberos received over the years, Marcus Bourassa, one of Adrianas attorneys, told the Union-Tribune. However, the judge has yet to decide whether the governments fraud theory is even viable. This case could have sweeping implications for everyday people and businesses. We look forward to clearing our client in court and, if necessary, on appeal.
Both siblings were thrust into the public spotlight in early 2021 when Trump commuted Adrianas prior prison sentence. At the time, she went by her now ex-husbands last name of Shayota. Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, who was cited by the White House as supporting her clemency claim, said that it was his former high school classmate Andy Camberos who asked him to support the clemency effort.
Adriana Camberos was previously convicted for her role in a scheme to sell counterfeit 5-Hour Energy drinks along with her ex-husband, Joseph Shayota, and several other business associates. Federal prosecutors in that case said the defendants first made counterfeit English labels so they could resell 350,000 bottles of Spanish-label 5-hour Energy drinks that didnt sell as well as expected in Mexico. Once those drinks sold, Shayota and others came up with a new scheme to make use of the high-quality counterfeit labels by concocting their own beverage that they packaged and sold as 5-hour Energy.
Nine people charged in connection with that case pleaded guilty, while Shayota and Camberos were convicted at trial in 2016. Camberos spent years appealing her conviction and sentence before reporting to prison in 2019. She was about halfway through her 26-month federal prison term when Trump commuted her sentence.
On Friday, the San Diego jury found Camberos and her brother guilty of committing wire fraud for a bank transaction that occurred on March 2, 2021 — barely more than five weeks after she was granted clemency.
The Camberos siblings built a multimillion-dollar empire solely on fraud, FBI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy said in a statement. 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.
Adriana Camberos took the stand during the trial. Andy Camberos, who is also the founder and former CEO of Grasshopper Dispensary, Chula Vista’s first legal cannabis retailer, did not testify.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant denied prosecutors request that the siblings be taken into custody pending sentencing, which is scheduled for March.