Cuban national Yuri Garcia-Dominguez and his Guyanese wife Ateeka Ishmael appeared at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court on Thursday to answer a total of 19 fraud charges in relation to the operation of an alleged Ponzi scheme in Guyana.
Cuban national Yuri Garcia-Dominguez and Ateeka Ishmael during their court appearance on Thursday
The couple, who resides at Track ‘A’ Coldingen, East Coast Demerara (ECD), ran the company – Accelerated Capital Firm Incorporated (ACFI) – and enrolled thousands of Guyanese citizens in the alleged Ponzi scheme, whereby the company claimed that it used a foreign exchange platform to trade the investments, which amount to millions of dollars.
Dominguez and Ishmael were arraigned on 13 charges which alleged that they obtained the sum of $24.7 million from 13 persons by false pretence.
They were each placed on $3.9 million bail by Magistrate Marissa Mittelholzer, and will return to Court on September 18.
Meanwhile, via Skype, the couple was also arraigned before Magistrate Alisha George at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court on an additional six charges.
They were not required to plead to the allegations that they obtained just over $1 million from six victims under false pretence. The duo was remanded to prison until September 21 for this second set of charges.
Persons protesting at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court on Thursday
Following Thursday’s arraignment, one of the couple’s two attorneys, Dexter Todd, told reporters that the prospect of success in this matter is very slim.
He contended that the prosecution’s case is faulty, since the issue is not a criminal matter but is in fact a civil matter, given that the complainants had each entered into a contract with the company.
“What the State have done is to impose themselves as a third party to a private contract, and they are forcibly allowing the course of a criminal nature to take shape, which ought not to be… The parties have signed themselves to an agreement, and they have dictated in that contract as to how their businesses are to be conducted,” Todd posited.
According to the attorney, there are legal ramifications for the fact the Directors are being charged instead “for actions of the company”. He said the Police are yet to pass this hurdle.
“To bring the parties in their personal capacity before the court for a criminal charge that they’re saying was clothed by a company invites a number of legal questions,” the lawyer noted.
He further questioned why the parties seeking redress did not approach the civil court to enforce their agreements.
“If the legal position is that the contracts entered into by both parties – the victim and the company – was an unlawful contract, then that will first have to be determined by a court, and that court will treat the contract as void because of its illegality. Now, we have not gotten that hurdle… The parties are placed before the court for a criminal matter that should be dealt with in a civil arrangement,” Todd stated.
Moreover, the attorney told reporters that his clients were told that the State would facilitate the opening of a bank account for monies to be transferred from overseas, so that the victims can be paid. However, he noted that that account is yet to be opened.
Dominguez, the principal of ACFI, had claimed that monies collected from Guyanese investors are stored in offshore accounts in several foreign jurisdictions, including Belize, the United States, and Germany.
ACFI, in a recent statement, said funds are available in its Bitcoin Wallet to refund investors, and asked for authorities to allow them to reopen a bank account to be able to issue the reimbursements.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall had written to Attorney Glen Hanoman, Dominguez other attorney, indicating that the Government is willing to facilitate that request so that Guyanese can get back their money.
But Guyanese authorities said they have found no monies in bank accounts in Belize belonging to the ACFI principals.
This is according to the multi-stakeholder group, headed by AG Nandlall, established by the Government of Guyana to investigate the allegations of fraud and other criminal activities connected to the alleged illegal pyramid scheme.
In a statement on Wednesday, the stakeholder group said, “Intelligence accumulated from reliable counterparts in Belize confirm that no company bearing the name “FK Choice” is registered with the local or the international Registry of Companies in that jurisdiction, as alleged by Yuri Garcia Dominguez.”
Nevertheless, during Thursday’s arraignment, dozens of persons showed up outside the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court, protesting for the couple’s release. They were chanting “Free Yuri!” and calling for the financial company to be licensed. Several of the protestors told reporters that the company had helped many of them financially, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As such, Attorney Todd asserted that the presence of those protestors is testimony that dealings with his client’s company has not been a sham.
“It has been a real deal. People have been getting their returns on their investments, and they’ve been quite satisfied,” he asserted.
The operation of the alleged Ponzi scheme came to the fore after numerous complaints were made by persons who had invested with the company.
The Guyana Securities Council (GSC) had informed the new Government that ACFI is not licensed to collect monies from the public, and that its operation violates several pieces of legislation across the fiscal regulatory architecture.
Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act, it is required for all investors to provide the source of funds and ensure that the financial activities and money laundering risks associated with a customer are properly recorded.
