ATTORNEY General (AG) Anil Nandlall has written to attorney for Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI), Glen Hanoman, informing him that the government is willing to facilitate the re-opening of a bank account for the company so that it can pay out monies to clients.

The company on Tuesday issued a statement affirming that “the funds necessary to refund [their] clients are ready to be disbursed”.

ACFI Principals, Yuri Garcia Dominquez and his wife Ateeka Ishmael, have been in police custody since last Thursday, as investigations continue into the company which authorities allege has been running a “Ponzi Scheme”.

ACFI, in frequent posts on its Facebook page, has been vehemently denying that it is a “Ponzi Scheme”, saying that it does have all the funds necessary to reimburse all of its customers.

A Ponzi Scheme is a form of fraud in which investors are made to believe in the success of a non-existent enterprise, and encouraged to invest because of the payment of quick returns. However, the first investors are only being paid from money invested by successive investors.

ACFI has been attributing its failure to remit payments to clients as being due to their lack of a bank account. Several local commercial banks have closed accounts for Dominquez and Ishmael and their business over the past few months.
The company, in its latest press statement issued on Tuesday, pleaded with the authorities to release Dominguez and Ishmael so that payments to client could resume, and for investigators to allow Dominguez to explain “how the company is structured”.
The company said that the funds are “successfully secured in three physical ‘Bitcoin’ wallets, inaccessible to outside interference and protected”, and is asking that the authorities “facilitate the opening of a bank account on behalf of ACFI in order to be able to transfer the funds from our Bitcoin Wallets into the Bank which will be used to repay ALL investors in Guyana”.
Nandlall said that the government’s main concern is that Guyanese who handed over their monies to the company get back their cash; and as such the government is willing to facilitate the bank account’s reopening.

“I have publicly committed that the State is prepared to do everything that is lawfully possible to facilitate the return to Guyana of the funds which your client claims are in disparate foreign jurisdiction. Unfortunately, all efforts thus far to locate those funds in those jurisdictions have been futile,” Nandalall said in the missive to Hanoman.

The AG’s letter now puts the ball back in ACFI’s court, as it has been pleading to be allowed to remit monies back to its customers.

“We are kindly asking the authorities to allow the clients receive (sic) 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 company communicated in its press release on Tuesday.

The company said that as a result of Dominguez and Ishmael’s arrest, no clients have been paid in the last five days. However, on the question of the release of Dominguez and Ishmael, Nandalall said that the government will not be intervening in the police investigation to facilitate their release.

“You are free to inform me of any other measures, excepting the release of your client from police custody during the investigations, which may assist in the return of the funds to the jurisdiction,” the letter said.

The police investigation has revealed that Dominguez and Ishmael cannot be released from custody, as they pose a grave flight risk, due to the severity of the case given the magnitude of money involved.

“Your client has received over US$20M in alleged deposits and investments; and your client and its principals comparatively, have little or no assets in the jurisdiction. In the consequence thereof, they both remain grave flight risks,” Nandlall said.

The AG had said that the police investigations have revealed that approximately 17, 000 Guyanese have invested in the company during its time here. The company is said to have been operating in Guyana from as far back as 2017. However, it has never been licensed by the Guyana Securities Council (GSC) to conduct securities business in Guyana, or to solicit investments from the public.
Many of those who handed over monies are wondering where the cash is. Single mother, Mary (not her real name) is wondering where is the $200,000 that she handed over to the company in June.

‘WANT MY MONEY BACK’
“It would have been great to receive some extra cash every month, but now that it’s discovered it’s a fraud, I’d just like to have my $200, 000 back,” Mary conveyed.
Mary said she was one among a group of four friends who decided to give investing a try, after she was hoodwinked into believing it was profitable.
“My colleague is a marketer, and she was sharing the good news of how she made back her money plus receiving profits, so myself and a few others got excited about it and thought why not. It is after a few weeks I learnt that she did not receive payments for, I think, months. I think that was so dishonest of her to not share this ‘info’ with me,” Mary noted, adding: “I believe she was trying to get more people to join, because they promised her a commission.”
Mary said while two of the persons she joined with received $40,000 payments, she and the other person have since seen no returns from their investment, but have been given a host of excuses from the company as to why accessing their money has been difficult.
“They said that the banks are giving them a hard time due to the volume of money that is coming in; and they also said the elections caused that, as there is no valid minister of finance, and that when they declare a new government, things will be normal. I have no idea what the company has to do with the minister of finance,” Mary said.
She added: “They said the money is in the Central Bank; then the marketer said that Yuri wanted to open a bank.”
According to Mary, in her last interaction with the company, she was told to return for her money on August 17.
“They took a copy of my ID and said they’re giving priority to first-timers, and that my money would be ready on August 17. I went on the 17th but I was not allowed up into the office. My conversation to them was through their security; I would ask my questions, and he would relate it to them through his earpiece,” she explained.