A Cuban national accused of running a brutal underground operation in Palm Beach County has been arrested in Las Vegas and hit with federal charges including forced labor trafficking, alien smuggling, loan sharking, and identity theft. Ivan Madrigal Zamora, 56, was taken into custody on February 12 and is now locked up without bond, awaiting trial in West Palm Beach.
Zamora faces one count of forced labor trafficking under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1589(a), after allegedly exploiting a victim for years through coercion and threats. From July 2017 onward, prosecutors say Zamora extracted labor under duress and used extortionate tactics to collect debts—tactics that federal law explicitly defines as criminal under anti-trafficking statutes.
The indictment also alleges Zamora facilitated illegal immigration, encouraging and inducing an undocumented alien to enter and reside in the United States between December 2016 and July 2017. To support this scheme, he is charged with producing a fake Florida driver license, a move that also led to a separate count of aggravated identity theft under Section 1028A(a)(1).
On top of the human exploitation charges, Zamora is accused of engaging in loan sharking—violating Title 18, Section 894(a)(1)—by threatening physical harm to collect on debts. These allegations paint a picture of a man operating on the fringes of organized criminal enterprise, leveraging fear, false documents, and immigration status to maintain control over his victims.
If convicted on all counts, Ivan Madrigal Zamora faces a combined statutory maximum of 62 years behind bars. The case was jointly announced by Benjamin G. Greenberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, ICE-HSI Special Agent in Charge Mark Selby, and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who credited the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force with critical investigative work.
Assistant United States Attorney Gregory Schiller is prosecuting the case. Court records are available via the Southern District of Florida’s public docket at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or through PACER. The indictment is an accusation; Zamora is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Human Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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