Latest update February 25th, 2025 10:18 AM
Aug 26, 2020 News
…Principals remain grave flight risks – Attorney General
Two officials of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. who remain in custody over an alleged Pyramid scheme are considered grave flight risks.
In addition, Attorney General Anil Nandlall told a lawyer, Glen Hanoman yesterday, the company has little or no assets in Guyana.
The story has been deeply worrying thousands of Guyanese whose money are in limbo. A number of them sold properties or gave their life savings to Accelerated.
Under regulations, investigators can seek to prolong the 72-hour limit, which they can keep suspects in custody without any charges.
Attorney-at-law Glen Hanoman, it appears, was retained by Cuban national, Yuri Garcia Dominguez, who is now a citizen of Guyana, and his wife, Ateeka Ishmael. They are both in custody after their arrests over the weekend.
According to a letter from the AG to the lawyer yesterday, as a result of multiple complaints received and reports to the Guyana Police Force (GPF), a team of State agencies has been assembled to inquire into the operations of Accelerated.
“A lot of information has already been made public by the relevant State agencies. I am informed by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) that the investigations have, thus far, revealed that your client has received US$20M in alleged “deposits or investments”, and that your client and its principals, comparatively, have little or no assets in the jurisdiction; in consequence thereof, they both remain grave flight risks,” Nandlall said in the letter.
The AG said that he has publicly committed that the State is prepared to do everything that is lawfully possible to facilitate the return of the funds to Guyana, which Garcia-Dominguez client claimed are in a number of foreign jurisdictions.
“Unfortunately, all efforts, thus far, to locate those funds in those jurisdictions have been futile. I have already indicated to you that a reopening of one of your client’s closed bank accounts at any of the commercial bank of his choice can be facilitated.’
Nandlall said he is willing to be informed of other measures, but does not have the power to grant bail as this discretion falls under other State agencies.
Thousands Affected
More than 17,000 persons are said to have invested in Accelerated with one businessman on record as handing over $380M.
Thousands are still not believing that the operations is a Pyramid or Ponzi Scheme and are calling for the release of the officials. However, authorities including the Bank of Guyana have been issuing warnings.
Investigators have been asking how the funds have left Guyana.
Yesterday, in a purported statement, Accelerated said it has the funds ready to be disbursed.
However, the principals want to be released from custody.
“We are kindly asking the authorities to allow the clients to receive their funds at a corporate level as indicated by the company policies, taking into consideration the confidentiality agreement as indicated in every client’s contract. Protecting our clients is the company’s main priority.”
The statement said that as a result of the current situation with the company’s directors, Ateeka Ishmael, and its “Financial Advisor and Trading Operator, Yuri Garcia Dominguez, the company has ceased operations and no clients have been paid in the last five days.
It said the money is secured in something it called “physical bitcoin wallets”.
Critics have said this is nonsense talk.
“Fortunately, the funds for the clients and pending profits were successfully secured in three physical bitcoins wallets inaccessible to outside interference and protected.”
In this regard, the company said it wants the authorities to release the directors so that payments to “clients” can be resumed.
The company said it wants an opportunity to explain how the company is structured and for the allegations to be dropped and for the operations not to be described as a Ponzi Scheme.
It also wants to be allowed for the company to be “restructured as required by the Guyana Securities Council” and for a bank account to be facilitated to transfer the money from its “bitcoin wallets”.
Regulators Warnings
The statement would have followed a joint statement from the Bank of Guyana, the Guyana Securities Council and the Financial Intelligence Unit on Monday on what was described as Pyramid Schemes also referred to as Ponzi Schemes.
“We wish to advise that such schemes and their activities are fraudulent, illegal, unlawful and unregulated. It is our understanding that these schemes are being offered to the public via direct solicitation and by various social media platforms, including but not limited to WhatsApp and Facebook. Potential investors are lured to these schemes by offers of returns or interest rates as high as fifty percent (50%) per month. All fiscal empirical data will establish that this is a prudent commercial impossibility.”
The statement from the regulators said that from its information, several of these schemes are being operated simultaneously.
“We advise that these operations are all fraudulent, illegal, unlawful and unregulated, and will eventually result in significant financial losses to investors. The known case of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. formerly operated under the name and style of Accelerated Wealth Inc., and their principals both in their personal and corporate capacity, have been offering these alleged investment services since 2017.”
It was pointed out that Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. (ACFI) only submitted their application for registration with the Guyana Securities Council on August 6, 2020.
“The Guyana Securities Council formally advised Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. that the application submitted was incomplete and remains pending. Additional supporting documentation was requested from the company based on the requirements of the Securities Industry Act 1998 and Regulations thereto. To date, the additional information requested, and requirements outlined have not been provided, including the minimum required paid up capital to register as a Securities Company of two hundred million Guyana dollars (G$200M).”
According to the regulators, they are committed to working with the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to bring the perpetrators of these scams/fraud to justice, and to ensure persons who have invested funds are reimbursed.
“Further, we remain committed to ensuring the financial sector in Guyana remains transparent, accountable, regulated and protected from and against criminal elements. We will continue to collaborate with our international partners in several regional and international jurisdictions in a concerted effort to recover funds that the scammers claimed to have remitted to those jurisdictions, including the USA, Belize, Germany, Greece and Switzerland.”
Unfortunately, the regulators said, its efforts thus far have not unearthed any monies in any of these jurisdictions, as is alleged.
“It has also been established that no substantial monies were deposited in or transmitted from any commercial bank in Guyana by Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. (ACFI) or its principals to any of the jurisdictions mentioned above or any other jurisdiction.”
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