{"id":413303,"date":"2025-09-10T14:09:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T14:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/413303\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T14:09:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T14:09:18","slug":"man-jumps-off-cruise-ship-allegedly-to-avoid-17k-gambling-debt-in-puerto-rico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/413303\/","title":{"rendered":"Man jumps off cruise ship allegedly to avoid $17K gambling debt in Puerto Rico"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>FOX Business&#8217; Edward Lawrence details how U.S. importers and a network of Chinese shell companies funneled goods through South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam to repackage products and avoid tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>A man accused of owing a cruise line nearly $17,000 in gambling debt allegedly jumped off a ship to avoid paying.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jey Gonzalez-Diaz, who was booked under the passenger name of &#8220;Jeremy Diaz,&#8221; was detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers around 9:45 a.m. Sunday near the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/travel\/vacation-destinations\/puerto-rico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Port of San Juan,<\/a> after he allegedly jumped off Royal Caribbean&#8217;s Rhapsody of the Seas during disembarkation, according to a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n<p>Security footage shows Gonzalez-Diaz being brought to shore by two passing Jet Skis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>CBP officers said they found $14,600 in U.S. currency, one backpack, one handbag, two mobile devices and five identification documents in Gonzalez-Diaz&#8217;s possession.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/lifestyle\/miami-sailboat-crash-survivor-stared-death-face-lawyer-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>MIAMI SAILBOAT CRASH SURVIVOR &#8216;STARED DEATH IN THE FACE,&#8217; LAWYER SAYS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gonalez-diaz-jet-ski-1.jpg\" alt=\"Jey Gonzalez-Diaz on jet ski after jumping off cruise ship\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Authorities say the suspect, Jey Gonzalez-Diaz, was pulled from the water by two passing Jet Skis.\u00a0 (Homeland Security Investigations \/ Fox News)<\/p>\n<p>When asked why he jumped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/travel\/general\/cruises\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">off the ship,<\/a> he allegedly told officers in Spanish, that he &#8220;did not want to report the currency on his possession because he thought he was going to be taxed duties for bring in the currency,&#8221; the complaint states.<\/p>\n<p>The cruise line told investigators that Gonzalez-Diaz &#8220;had a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/entertainment\/genres\/crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$16,710.24 debt&#8221;<\/a> that &#8220;was almost exclusively associated to Casino and Gaming expenses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/lifestyle\/carnival-cruise-lines-new-exclusive-destination-opens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE\u2019S &#8216;NEW EXCLUSIVE DESTINATION&#8217; OPENS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gonalez-diaz-jet-ski-2.jpg\" alt=\"Jey Gonzalez-Diaz before detainment\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Jey Gonzalez-Diaz faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for what allegedly occurred on Sept. 7, 2025.\u00a0 (Homeland Security Investigations \/ Fox News)<\/p>\n<p>The cruise left the Port of San Juan on August 31 before returning on September 7.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the court filing, when Gonzalez-Diaz was asked by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents for his full name, he said, &#8220;If you guys were good at your job, you would know that.&#8221; He then refused to speak with HSI agents further, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rhapsody-of-the-seas-aerial.jpg\" alt=\"Rhapsody of the Seas aerial view\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>An aerial view of Royal Caribbean&#8217;s Rhapsody of the Seas, taken at an unknown date and location. (Royal Caribbean \/ Fox News)<\/p>\n<p>Three of the identification documents that officers recovered had the name &#8220;Jeremy Diaz,&#8221; which the suspect later told investigators was his brother&#8217;s name. Two additional documents had the name &#8220;Jey Xander Omar Gonzalez Diaz.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gonzalez-Diaz&#8217;s brother has been in federal custody since January 2025 at the Metropolitan Detention Center Guaynabo, authorities said.<\/p>\n<tr>Ticker Security Last Change Change %<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ticker\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/quote?stockTicker=RCL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RCL<\/a><\/td>\n<td class=\"security\">ROYAL CARIBBEAN GROUP<\/td>\n<td class=\"last\">345.52<\/td>\n<td class=\"change pos\">+0.26<\/td>\n<td class=\"percent pos\">\n        +0.08%\n      <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr\/>\n<p>Gonzalez-Diaz faces fines up to $250,000, up to five years in prison or both.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxbusiness.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When contacted by FOX Business, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said that due to the matter being part of an ongoing investigation, they &#8220;are working with authorities and don\u2019t have any more information to share.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOX Business&#8217; Edward Lawrence details how U.S. importers and a network of Chinese shell companies funneled goods through&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[105,218,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-413303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115180402598898909","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}