Prosecution Opens Cuba Spying Case

MIAMI —  A U.S. immigration official passed a government secret to a friend with ties to Cuba for money and to prove his value as a business associate, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

Mariano Faget, 54, a veteran Immigration and Naturalization Service official, is charged with violating the U.S. Espionage Act by revealing classified information and lying about contacts with Cuban officials. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

In opening the prosecution’s case, Assistant U.S. Atty. Dick Gregorie told the jury that as a high-ranking official, Faget had access to secret government files. Faget was acting district deputy director in Miami.

“You’re going to have to decide which side Mr. Faget is on,” Gregorie said. “We’re not talking about communism. This is not about political philosophy . . . whether you believe in the embargo [against trade with Cuba] or not. This is a Miami case. . . . It’s about money, information and access.”

Defense attorney Edward O’Donnell told jurors that Faget acted in good faith out of concern for his old friend and would never have done anything to compromise national security.

When arrested Feb. 17, Faget told the FBI: “I want you to know that what I did was to protect my friend. I would do nothing to jeopardize the security of my country,” O’Donnell quoted his client as saying.

The FBI began surveillance of Faget in February 1999 after he went to a bar and met a Cuban diplomat who the agency suspected was an intelligence official. A year later, Faget was told as part of an FBI sting that the Cuban official wanted to defect and that that information was classified.

When Faget then used his personal cell phone to alert his longtime friend, Pedro Font, he did so out of concern for Font’s safety, not to alert Cuban officials, O’Donnell said.

Font was meeting that day with top Cuban diplomat Jose Imperatori, and Faget wanted Font to have the information for his own protection, O’Donnell said.

Gregorie alleges Font and Faget created a corporation to conduct business with Cuba, and while Font and other partners put up money, Faget had nothing to give except his status as a government official.