Thirty-two persons who claimed that they invested over $25M with the Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI), a company which is now at the centre of a huge suspected Ponzi scheme investigation have since approached the police with the hope of being reimbursed.
Contacted for an update yesterday, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News that seventeen of the thirty-two investors reached out to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday, in response to an appeal.
They reportedly had eighteen transactions with ACFI which amounted to the sum of $11.5M, Blanhum said.
Prior to this, Blanhum noted that another fifteen persons, who reportedly had transactions valued at $13M had come forward.
The principals of the firm, Yuri Garcia Dominguez and Ateeka Ishmael were taken into police custody last Thursday for questioning amid growing complaints from persons who had subscribed to the scheme.
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) in a statement had said that Dominguez, a 34-year-old Cuban national, and 32-year-old Ateeka Ishmael both of Track A, Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, were detained last Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation of alleged fraud.
They have been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme with approximately 17,000 Guyanese having lost hundreds of millions of dollars after investing with the unlicensed company.
ACFI has claimed that it uses a foreign exchange platform to trade and it seems that all aspects of the scheme operate online via training webinars, WhatsApp and emails. The methods of payment used to invest and trade are credit cards and wire transfers.
The unsuspecting were told that their monies would yield high interest from foreign exchange trading and safe overseas investments.
Both Dominguez and Ishmael remain in police custody.
Blanhum confirmed that the police were yesterday granted an extension to detain them for an additional 72 hours.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has estimated that 17,000 persons countrywide were conned out of their monies. On Saturday Nandlall announced that the firm allegedly collected approximately US$20 million from would-be investors.
He urged citizens who had invested in the scheme to contact their nearest police station to lodge reports so that a database of investors and the sums invested would be set up, so that if possible those persons could be reimbursed.
The Bank of Guyana (BoG) in a press release last week stated that the company and its principals never deposited anything near the sums it is alleged they collected.
The BoG had said that ACFI had one bank account, with the Bank of Baroda (BoB).
ACFI has no other bank account as its application for a commercial bank account was denied. Also denied was an application to the Guyana Securi-ties Council (GSC) for a licence to operate.
Dominguez, according to Nandlall has claimed that he holds bank accounts in Las Vegas, Nevada in the US and Germany.
The Attorney General previously told this newspaper that government’s paramount priority is to locate the vast sums of monies received by this company and to ensure that the persons who lodged their monies with them are reimbursed.
Naturalization
Dominguez, who is a Cuban national, recently received his Guyanese citizenship.
Nandlall had said that after making a post about the company on Facebook he received hundreds of messages from members of the public and reached out to the GSC for an explanation of the operations of the company.
In response, head of the GSC Cheryl Ibbot presented documents showing that ACFI has been operating since 2018 in violation of “several pieces of legislation across the fiscal regulatory architecture.”
The entity also asserted that in October 2019 it had informed the former administration through the Ministries of the Presidency, Citizenship and Public Security that Dominguez and Ishmael were suspected of operating an illegal investment scheme.
At the same time, the GSC published public notices on the issue. Notices were also published in January 2020.
However, former Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix in a statement issued yesterday said that the GSC never contacted him about the suspects or their suspected involvement in the Ponzi scheme. “I cannot recall ever receiving information in any format, whether orally or in writing, from the Guyana Securities (Council) (GSC) in connection with……Dominguez’ involvement in a Ponzi scheme,” Felix said.
He noted that Dominguez was granted his naturalization months after an investigation was order-ed and after he was informed by the Commissioner of Police that the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had closed the matter.
“In response to my letter to the Commissioner of Police dated September 04, 2019, I received guidance from the Commissioner of Police in a letter dated 2020-04-17, seven months after the investigation commenced, that following advice from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), a name stated, `this matter be treated as closed and that Yuri Garcia Dominguez and Laicy Garcia Pedroso continue the process of applying for citizenship’”, Felix explained.
“In accordance therewith, there being no other restraining circumstances to necessitate official action to prevent the naturalization process, Dominquez’ naturalization form was signed on 12th June, 2020, just about two months after the DPP ‘treated the matter as closed’”, he added.
In the statement, Felix detailed his recollection of the matter.
He said that on August 28, 2019, he received a letter from his superior. “Attached to this letter was an anonymous and undated letter in which allegations (were made) of illegal financial trading (being) undertaken by certain Cuban nationals married to Guyanese and seeking to use that relationship to secure Naturalization in Guyana,” he said.
As a result, he said he forwarded the “anonymous and undated” letter to the Commissioner of Police for an investigation to be conducted and the appropriate actions to be taken where necessary.
“I had instructed my staff that the application by Dominguez and any other person associated with him should be put on pause until such time that the police investigation was completed. I am satisfied that my instructions were given due adherence,” Felix stated.
According to Felix, Dominguez had married a Guyanese and according to the provisions of the constitution of Guyana, sought Guyanese citizenship throughout naturalization. That process, he was put on hold.
While the application was on hold to facilitate the investigation, Felix said Dominquez was advised that he is required to publish the said notice in the daily newspapers, to elicit any “negative” information on his character. “Dominquez did comply and had a notice of his application for naturalization published in one of the daily newspapers. These activities occurred prior to the application being put on pause,” Felix noted.
He said the Department of Citizenship did not receive any response from the notice. “May I restate that since this Dominguez’ notice of his application for naturalization was published in the newspapers, the Department did not receive any letter from the Guyana Securities (Council) in this connection. I acted on the letter I received from my superior,” he added.
According to Felix, it is “unfortunate” that except for an anonymous letter none of the 17,000 persons affected responded to the notice of Dominguez seeking naturalization.
Felix said it appears as though investigators were deprived of “essential” information which was necessary to build a case against the alleged perpetrator/s.
