The Washington Post
Wednesday, May 31, 2000; Page A01

Official With INS Convicted Of Spying

By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer

MIAMI, May 30—A senior U.S. immigration official with a 34-year career that included access to classified information about Cuban defectors and law
enforcement sources was found guilty today by a federal court jury of disclosing government secrets.

Mariano Faget, 54, who came to the United States from Cuba as a teenager and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, was an acting deputy director of the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami when he was arrested in February on charges that he revealed secrets to a lifelong friend and business partner with
connections to Cuba.

Faget was the first immigration official ever charged under federal espionage laws. Although he had a high-level security clearance and occasional access to sensitive
information, officials said, he is not considered to have done significant harm to U.S. national security. But the case is viewed by some counterintelligence officials as
evidence that Cuba has built an extensive intelligence network, particularly in the Miami area.

The jury in U.S. District Court here also convicted Faget of converting government property, or information, to his own use; lying on a security form when he said he
had no foreign business ties; and lying about contacts with a Cuban official. The jury deliberated for several hours Thursday and again for three hours today before
reaching a verdict.

Faget, who faces a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, will be sentenced in August.

"We're pleased," said Hector M. Pesquera, FBI special agent in charge of Miami, after the verdict. "What was presented to the jury was unequivocal in support of
the violations he was charged with. There was no doubt on the government's side that that was the only decision the jury could come up with."

As part of an FBI sting called "Operation False Blue," Faget, who was nearing retirement, was told a phony story about the upcoming defection of a top Cuban
intelligence officer.

On Feb. 11, he attended a meeting with Pesquera and other senior U.S. officials who sought his advice about the bogus defection of Luis Molina, described in court
as one of two known Cuban intelligence officers who had been seen meeting alone with Faget over the past year.

Twelve minutes after the meeting, FBI agents listened in as Faget dialed his personal cell phone and relayed the information to friend Pedro Font, a New York City
businessman with Cuban ties who was to meet shortly with Jose Imperatori, an official in the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington.

The FBI also had gathered surveillance of Faget making unauthorized contact with Imperatori.

Imperatori was expelled from the United States earlier this year. Both he and Molina have denied they were spies.

During closing arguments Thursday, Faget's attorneys called the FBI case "outrageous and slanderous," and described Faget as "an honest government servant who
made a mistake."

"They thought this man . . . was a Castro agent. They know, they have to know now, that's not true," Faget's attorney Ed O'Donnell told the 12-person jury, which
included six jurors of Cuban descent. "Now they say he did it for money, influence and access."

But federal prosecutors countered that Faget was trying to "deceive" the jury just as he had deceived the U.S. government.

"Mariano Faget was a government employee willing to betray the trust of the people he was sworn to serve," Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis Miner told the jurors.
"He disclosed classified information for no better purpose than his own personal reasons, his own personal gain."

Faget and Font had formed America-Cuba Inc. in 1993 to pursue business ventures in Cuba should the U.S. trade embargo against the communist nation be lifted.

Last week, Faget took the stand in his own defense, testifying he had tipped off Font only because Font was meeting with Imperatori, and Faget feared for Font's
safety should the Cuban officials think Font was involved in the alleged defection. He said he was afraid Font might fall into a "trap."

But prosecutors argued that Faget really told the secret to ingratiate himself with Font and the Cuban officials.

Faget described his earlier meetings with Cuban officials as attempts to gauge the business climate in his former homeland in order to "help Cuba" in the future.

"As one gets older, I guess one's roots start tugging at him," Faget said on the stand last week.

But FBI agent James Patrick Laflin testified that Faget was "manipulative and deceitful" when the FBI questioned him for six hours on Feb. 17 about his contacts with
the Cuban government.

Faget countered that he was reluctant to cooperate with agents because they kept insisting his friend Font was a spy.

INS officials had little comment on the verdict.

"The system has rendered its decision, and we will consider Mr. Faget's status with INS based upon this decision and federal personnel guidelines," said INS
spokesman Russ Bergeron. Faget technically remains an INS employee, on leave without pay since his arrest.

Earlier this year, the Miami Herald described Faget's father, Mariano Faget Sr., as someone who hunted down and tortured suspected communists for the
government of Fulgencio Batista, who was overthrown by Fidel Castro. A book on the Cuban revolution also stated that Faget Sr. had worked with the FBI.

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