Brazilian Man Living Illegally in Connecticut Admits to Scheme That Gave Over 600 People Fake Driver’s Licenses

A Brazilian national unlawfully living in Danbury, Connecticut, has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to obtain hundreds of fraudulent driver’s licenses for people not legally eligible to have them—most of whom were undocumented immigrants.

Helbert Costa Generoso, 41, pleaded guilty in Boston on Tuesday to conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess identification documents, and to furnishing a false passport. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 2.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Generoso and four co-conspirators were indicted in December 2023. Prosecutors say that from late 2020 to early fall 2024, the group fraudulently applied for over 1,000 licenses and successfully obtained more than 600—primarily for undocumented individuals in states where they couldn’t legally get a driver’s license.

Before July 2023, undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts weren’t eligible for driver’s licenses, while New York had allowed it since 2019. Prosecutors say Generoso and his partners exploited New York’s policy by fraudulently obtaining New York licenses and selling them to people living in Massachusetts and other states.

After July 2023, when Massachusetts changed its law, the group shifted to obtaining licenses there as well—still fraudulently—for individuals living outside the state.

Each customer reportedly paid about $1,400 for a fake license and another $1,400 for a forged foreign passport used as ID in the license application process.

To get around New York DMV identity and testing requirements, the suspects allegedly:

Uploaded photos of customers to impersonate them during online permit tests
Took the tests themselves, posing as the applicants
Created fake driver’s education certificates with forged signatures
Drove customers to New York to appear in person and present false documents
Scheduled and arranged for road tests
Collected the licenses sent to New York addresses under their control

After the DMV issued the licenses, they handed them over to their customers. The operation earned the group hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors.

Generoso is the second defendant to plead guilty. Three others have pleaded not guilty and await trial.

The charge of unlawfully producing and transferring ID documents carries up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. The false passport charge carries up to 10 years.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, New York DMV investigators, and police departments in Boston, Danbury, and Waterbury, among others.

Prosecutors noted that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

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