Mariano Faget, 54, who had worked at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for 34 years and was near retirement, was arrested in February on charges that he revealed government secrets to a business partner about Cuba.

Shortly after his arrest, U.S. authorities accused José Imperatori--at the time vice-consul of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C.--of spying, and expelled him from the country. U.S. officials claimed Faget spoke with Cuban diplomats at a bar in Miami. This was illegal, they said, because of his INS position.

The FBI targeted Faget in a sting called "Operation False Blue." The INS official attended a meeting February 11 with FBI agent Hector Pesquera and other U.S. officials, who gave him phony information about the impending defection of a Cuban diplomat.

Afterwards, with U.S. agents monitoring his cell phone call, he relayed this information to a friend and business associate, Cuban-American Pedro Font, who was to meet shortly with Imperatori.

Prosecutor Richard Gregorie argued before the court that "Mariano Faget was supplying information to a friend of his in order to gain an economic advantage in doing business with Cuba." Faget and Font had formed America-Cuba Inc. in 1993 to pursue business ventures in Cuba in the expectation that Washington will eventually lift its trade embargo against the Caribbean nation.

Faget is the first INS official ever charged under federal espionage laws. He will be sentenced in August, and faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison.  
 
 
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