BOSTON — A father and son who own two Woburn restaurants pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston on Thursday to conspiring to smuggle migrants into the United States from Brazil.
Jesse James Moraes, 66, and Hugo Giovanni Moraes, 45, the owners of Taste of Brazil—Tudo Na Brasa and The Dog House Bar and Grill, recruited undocumented migrants in Brazil to come to the United States through Mexico without authorization in exchange for fees of between $12,000 and $22,000 per person, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts.
The migrants were encouraged to make fraudulent claims of asylum and were given fraudulent information about points of contact to give to immigration authorities when they were caught, federal prosecutors said.
Once the migrants reached the United States, Jesse and Hugo helped them secure long-term housing, including in apartments owned by relatives. They then arranged for some of the migrants to work in the two restaurants in downtown Woburn.
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Prosecutors said that Jesse and Hugo paid the migrants either entirely or partly in cash unless and until the migrants obtained identification documents, at which point they were paid at least partly by check. They also encouraged the migrants working for them to obtain false identification documents.
Some of the migrants also paid off some of their smuggling fees by direct payment, having their wages withheld, or by collection by relatives and other associates.
In addition to the smuggling charges, Jesse Moraes pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy.
Federal and local officials with Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, and Woburn police executed federal search and arrest warrants at the restaurants in October 2022.
Video captured by a Boston 25 photographer showed agents inside the Dog House Bar & Grill and Taste of Brazil. During the raids, agents were spotted seizing boxes of evidence and multiple computer towers.
In April 2023, Jesse and Hugo were also charged in a superseding indictment with forced labor conspiracy.
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