Prominent Cuban music promoter must remain jailed before his Miami trial, judge rules

A Cuban music promoter charged with playing a small part in a big scheme involving the sale of millions of dollars worth of “misbranded” psychiatric, cancer and HIV medications to pharmacies wasn’t released from a federal lock-up Wednesday because a judge found that he might flee to his native Cuba.

In late January, Boris Arencibia was arrested by dozens of federal agents at his home in the Kendall area. He also has contacts in Cuba where he organized a music festival last August and could use them to return there if he were granted a bond, Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis ruled at the end of a detention hearing in Miami federal court.

No court evidence showed that Arencibia, who was in Miami at the time, actually attended the Santa María festival in Cuba. Still, Louis found the 50-year-old promoter had “ties to Cuba” that posed “a serious risk of flight” — presenting her with “unusual circumstances” for the first time.

Arencibia’s defense attorney, Frank Quintero, said he would appeal Louis’ decision to U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles and try to show that his client was working with a private company and not directly with the Cuban government when he staged the music festival in Camaguey last summer. He also pointed out that the music concert itself was not a violation of the U.S. embargo against the communist country.

Louis’ ruling capped the three-hour hearing with bang, as about 50 of Arencibia’s family, friends and supporters expressed their disappointment while his defense attorney, a federal prosecutor and a FBI agent digested her decision. Her ultimate focus on Arencibia’s production of the music festival in Cuba took everyone by surprise because it was not among the biggest issues debated at his detention hearing.

Potential flight risk?

Instead, both sides argued over whether two trips that Arencibia took to Cuba, in 1998 and 2016, suggested that he would be a potential flight risk if he were granted a bond before trial. He obtained lawful papers for the first trip but did not have them for the second trip, according to court evidence. Both sides also argued over whether Arencibia’s involvement in two Miami bar brawls, in 2018 and 2023, indicated that he would pose a danger to the community. He was not convicted in either incident.

In addition, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Tamen said that Arencibia staged another music festival in Puerto Rico last year as a benefit to pay for the legal defense of an associate of a notorious drug lord in the U.S. territory.

Tamen also said a couple of cooperating witnesses in the prosecution’s pharmaceutical drug case contacted the FBI to say they feared Arencibia would harm them because they were helping the government

“He’s the one who stands out,” he said. “He’s the one that witnesses say they’re afraid of.”

Louis, the magistrate judge, discounted the prosecutor’s assertion that Arencibia should be denied a bond because he’s a danger to the community, including Tamen’s accusation that he could obstruct justice by potentially threatening witnesses.

Arencibia is the owner and president of South Florida-based Caribe Promotions. He has represented musicians and boxers, including Cuban professional boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux. The promoter caught the ire of Miami’s Cuban community after acknowledging that he was an organizer of the Santa María Music Fest, which was deemed controversial by some due to its financial links to the Cuban military. A social media influencer from Kentucky got into a fight with Arencibia over the concert, but no one was charged, according to evidence presented at the businessman’s detention hearing.

According to an indictment, Arencibia is charged with conspiracy to deliver misbranded and adulterated drugs, conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The indictment says Arencibia conspired with Lazaro Hernandez and about a dozen others from 2013 through 2019 to buy expensive prescription medications from people who obtained them through theft, burglary or health care fraud. Hernandez, a Miami businessman, was arrested in 2022 after being accused of directing the $230 million scheme. Like the other defendants, Hernandez pleaded guilty and cooperated in the case against Arencibia in the hope of reducing his 15-year prison sentence.

READ MORE: Miami man arrested in $230 million HIV-drug scheme, then gains release from fed lockup

Arencibia, the indictment says, used two corporations — Quality Supplement Distributors and LDD Distributors Inc., which he registered in Connecticut under somebody else’s name — to launder about $400,000 of the tainted pharmaceutical proceeds.

‘He will fight this case’

Quintero said at the detention hearing that he has been aware that the promoter has been under federal investigation for about a year. Arencibia offered to surrender but was never given the opportunity to do so, noting that federal agents broke down the gate at his Kendall home when they arrested him on Jan. 26.

Quintero pointed out, through the questioning of FBI Special Agent Matthew Lanthorn, that the government case against Arencibia is built solely upon cooperating witnesses like Hernandez. The agent acknowledged there were no undercover recordings, no text messages and no emails with Arencibia’s name on them.

“He will fight this case,” said Quintero, who proposed a $300,000 bond to the judge.

The latest criminal case isn’t the first time Arencibia has caught the attention of federal prosecutors.

In 2000, Arencibia was accused of possessing equipment that could create fraudulent credit cards, according to Miami federal court records. He took a plea deal and was sentenced to six months in federal prison followed by three years of probation.

Arencibia’s permanent residency status in the United States was subsequently revoked, which Quintero said an immigration lawyer is trying to correct so he can lawfully remain in this country.