Just over a year after they were initially placed before the court for operating an alleged Ponzi scheme here, the principals of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI) are currently facing at least 150 charges.
Yuri Garcia and his wife Ateeka Ishmael have been faced with the charges between the period August 27, 2020 and September 10, 2021, during which time they have appeared before different magistrates at Georgetown, Sparendaam and at Vigilance.
Among the charges they are facing are conspiracy to commit a felony, conspiring with other persons to obtain monies by false pretence and more recently forging COVID-19 test results.
The couple is also facing two additional charges which were filed by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).
They were charged under the Consumers Affairs Act with operating a pyramid scheme, and under the Securities Act with operating without a licence.
On some instances they were placed on self-bail while in others, they were released on cash bail. Their bail amounts exceed $30 million in total.
Bail was set on the condition that they report to the police at stipulated.
However, Sunday Stabroek was reliably informed that Garcia has been accused by police of not meeting the condition of his bail, which may see it being escheated.
This newspaper was told that a court has already been made aware of Garcia’s failure to fulfil the conditions of his bail and a date has been set for a decision to be made on the way forward.
In August, 2020, the police had arrested Garcia and Ishmael after launching an investigation into what has been described as a huge Ponzi scheme.
The Guyana Police Force had said that Garcia, a naturalised Guyanese of Cuban origin, and his wife, Ishmael, 32, both of Track ‘A’, Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, were detained as part of an ongoing investigation of alleged fraud.
At a press conference held in early October, 2020, he had announced plans to recommence repayment of invested capital to 17,000 clients from October 12th, 2020 since the firm was not licensed to operate here and had been forced to cease all of its operations.
The firm had claimed repayment did commence as promised and some 27 persons received their invested capital.
However, two days after the repayment started, officials from SOCU raided the couple’s property at Coldingen, ECD and seized equipment containing records of their clients.
This resulted in a halt of the repayment.
About a month after, attorney Dexter Todd had told this newspaper that persons who invested with ACFI were at risk of losing their money as the companies which piloted the trading of the funds had since terminated their contracts with the firm.
The following month, Todd had said that his clients had embarked on a process of putting their trading account back into profitability and once this was completed repayment would begin.
In January, after months of delay, Todd had told this newspaper that persons who invested with the firm have begun to receive their monies. Todd had said that his clients informed him that the repayment process commenced in late January.
However, to date, a large number of these persons are yet to be reimbursed their monies.
