VIRGINIA GARDENS, Fla. — Nearly two years after making the first series of arrests in the case of a “fraudulent insurance school” near the Miami airport, state investigators say they’ve ensnared four more agents.
The case involves the former D&R Academy, which was located out of an office building at 6405 NW 36th St. in Virginia Gardens. Local 10 News reported on the first arrests in June 2024, after which Florida’s then-Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis called the allegations “reprehensible.”
Those included the then-59-year-old man accused of running that school, Rainier Miguel Salas. Investigators with the Florida Department of Financial Services alleged that the Miami resident ran an operation in which at least 820 insurance licensing examinations were “subverted” through the school.
Records show Salas, now 61, pleaded guilty to uttering forged instruments and organized scheme to defraud in court cases in 2025, received community control and probation. Several other charges were dropped.
Records additionally show charges were either dropped against other alleged co-conspirators or their cases no longer appeared in Miami-Dade court records as of Tuesday afternoon; those included Salas’ son and ex-wife.
But the D&R case is now back in the spotlight with four more co-defendants joining the fold, three of whom live in South Florida.
Investigators said Iliana Bedoya Cuadros, 53, of Palm Springs; Yilliam Bruzon Betancourt, 37, of Louisville, Kentucky; Robinson Lopez Tiberio, 55, of Coral Springs; and Jose Dario Moreno, 39, of Doral; all knowingly used the illegal service to fraudulently obtain insurance licenses in 2023 and 2024.
Authorities said they were able to tie the four to the scheme using digital evidence, including WhatsApp messages, obtained from the original investigation.
They are said in the report to be among the “thousands of illicit licensees” identified through the investigation.
Arrest reports show all four were booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Tuesday morning, facing various charges including organized scheme to defraud.
All were being held at TGK on bonds ranging from $3,150 to $5,650 as of Tuesday afternoon.
Besides criminal charges, records show Moreno and Lopez Tiberio ― both of whom are Venezuelan nationals ― also remained jailed on immigration holds.
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