Inside "the Pool": Fugitive arrested in alleged cross-border car trade scheme
Summary
Federal authorities arrested Rigoberto Brown, a fugitive accused of helping run a price-fixing and market-control scheme involving used car shipments from the U.S. through Mexico to Central America. The scheme centered around a group of South Texas businessmen, including Carlos Martinez, who controlled forwarding agencies near the Texas-Mexico border, fixing fees and forcing other businesses to follow their rules.Key Facts
- Transmigrantes are drivers who transport used cars bought in the U.S. through Mexico to sell in Central America.
- Carlos Martinez, a Texas businessman, led a network that fixed prices and pooled revenues among forwarding agencies near the Los Indios border crossing.
- Martinez is the son-in-law of a former Gulf Cartel leader and pleaded guilty to federal charges, receiving a prison sentence.
- Rigoberto Brown was charged in 2022 with conspiring to fix prices and monopolize the transmigrante forwarding business and then fled to Mexico.
- Brown was captured near McAllen, Texas, after living as a fugitive for nearly four years and will be arraigned in federal court.
- The scheme involved forwarding agencies agreeing to inflate prices and share the market instead of competing.
- Participants used charts and spreadsheets to track prices and revenues and communicated through calls, texts, and social media.
- The group controlled relationships with Mexican customs brokers, forcing outside agencies to comply with their pricing and revenue-sharing rules.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
