Víctor Manuel Álvarez Puga, husband of TV host Inés Gómez Mont, was arrested on September 24 in Florida due to irregularities in his migration status. He faces charges in Mexico for money laundering and public fund diversion. The detention occurs as he pursues asylum in the United States.
Víctor Manuel Álvarez Puga, a Mexican lawyer and businessman, entered the United States on January 14, 2021, with a visa that expired on July 13 of that year. On July 9, he traveled to the Bahamas and returned the next day by sea, missing a scheduled flight on July 21. In 2022, he applied for asylum, a process still unresolved. His arrest took place on September 24 following a migration review, and he remains at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade, under custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In Mexico, the Attorney General's Office (FGR) obtained an arrest warrant in September 2021 against Álvarez Puga for crimes including organized crime, operations with illicit funds, and embezzlement. His firm, Álvarez Puga & Asociados, founded with his brother Alejandro, is implicated in a network of ghost companies that simulated services for the federal government during Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong's tenure at the Secretariat of the Interior, involving an alleged embezzlement of 2.95 billion pesos. The probe focuses on fraudulent contracts to divert public funds.
His wife, Inés Gómez Mont, faces similar charges as an accomplice, with an active arrest warrant and Interpol red notice since 2021. Her whereabouts are unknown, with no reports of her presence in the United States. Following the detention, Álvarez Puga filed a habeas corpus petition claiming he poses no flight risk and has no criminal record in the U.S., seeking release on his own recognizance. There is no confirmation of an extradition request from Mexico, though it could proceed diplomatically if formalized.