Yuri Garcia Dominguez and Ateeka Ishmael, the principals of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI), the company which has been at the centre of a huge suspected Ponzi scheme investigation over the last week are scheduled to appear in court today.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum last evening told Stabroek News that the duo remain in police custody and are scheduled to appear in court this morning.
They will be charged with conspiring with other persons to obtain by false pretence, Blanhum said.
Dominguez and Ishmael were taken into police custody last Thursday for questioning amid growing complaints from persons who had subscribed to the scheme.
The police were on Monday granted an extension to detain them for an additional 72 hours.
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) in a statement had said that Dominguez, a 34-year-old Cuban national, and 32-year-old 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.
According to Blanhum, the police have obtained a total of sixty-nine statements from investors who reached out to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
These individuals had seventy-seven transactions amounting to $135M, Blanhum said.
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.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has estimated that 17,000 persons countrywide were conned out of their monies. On Satur-day, Nandlall announced that the firm had 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 that 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 Securities 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 firm on Tuesday called on authorities to release its directors and drop all charges against them.
“We kindly ask to the authorities to release our Directors that are currently in custody, so that the payments to our clients can be resumed successfully,” the company said in a statement, as it outlined other measures it wants compliance with, saying that in meeting them, those persons could be refunded.
“The company also ask, as first request, to the entities in charge of this investigation to allow our Financial Advisor to explain how ACF is structured, as second request, drop all allegations of ponzy scheme and allow the company being structured by the Guyana Securities Council, as a third request, facilitate a bank account on behalf of Accelerated Capital Firm INC in order to be able to transfer the funds from our bitcoin wallets into the bank,” the statement added.
Nandlall on Tuesday said that both of the persons in custody are flight risks and for law enforcement to let them go would be to see the case going cold and hundreds losing their hard- earned cash.
