Yuri Garcia Dominguez and his wife, Ateeka Ishmael, two principals of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI) were yesterday read 10 additional charges of conspiracy to commit a felony.
Dominguez, a 34-year-old Cuban national and Ishmael, 32, both of Track A, Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, were arraigned before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court via Skype, where they faced additional charges for conspiring to obtain monies by false pretence with the intention to defraud.
They were granted bail in the sum of $1, 000,000 each.
They are scheduled to return to court on October 5th, when the matter will be called again.
The couple are part of a company which is alleged to have operated a Ponzi scheme here.
Last Thursday, the duo appeared before two Magistrate’s Courts where they were faced with 19 charges of conspiring with other persons to obtain monies by false pretence.
Magistrate Melissa Mittelholzer, attached to the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court had granted the two defendants bail in the sum of $3,900,000 each on 13 of the charges.
They are expected to make their next appearance on September 18.
However, when the couple appeared that same Thursday before Magistrate Alisha George at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court, they were refused bail on the other six charges.
They were remanded to prison until September 21st.
The couple were represented by attorneys-at-law Dexter Todd and Glen Hanoman.
Dominguez and Ishmael were taken into police custody on August 20th for questioning amid growing complaints from persons who had subscribed to the scheme.
The Guyana Police Force in a statement had said that they were detained 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.
Police Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said that the police had obtained a total of sixty-nine statements from investors who reached out to the Criminal Investigation Department. These individuals had seventy-seven transactions amounting to $135M, Blanhum said.
