– electronic equipment, records seized
– Attorney anticipates disruption in repayments to investors

DAYS after Accelerated Capital Firm Incorporated (ACFI) began repaying its investors, the home of its principals was, on Wednesday, reportedly searched by members of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and several items, including computers and other electronic equipment were seized.
Attorney-at-law Dexter Todd, who represents Ateeka Ishameal and her Cuban born husband, Yuri Garcia Dominguez, made these disclosures last evening.
Todd informed that the search began at approximately 13:00hrs at the couple’s Coldingen, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home and lasted until approximately 18:00hrs. The couple was not arrested, he said.

“They walked with sniffer dogs and everything. It was a full operation. They came with a search warrant to seize all the money on the premises so they took all his computers, all the phones, all the records, everything that was put together for the repayment of the investors. So they [ACFI] have no way of paying back these people,” Todd explained.
Dominguez, his wife and their company, ACFI, have been in the limelight since early August, when the company was accused of running a Ponzi scheme. It is alleged that over 17,000 persons have invested over US$20 million in the company.

The couple was arrested in August and released on bail totaling $30 million after appearing in various courts on dozens of charges.
They had publically committed to begin repayment of customers by Monday.
According to Todd, the couple honoured their commitment and have started to repay investors.

However, according to sources, the police are now questioning where that money is coming from.
Efforts made to contact the Head of SOCU, Senior Superintendent Fazil Karimbaksh for a comment on the situation proved futile.
SOCU was established in 2013 as a law enforcement agency to support the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in the investigation of money laundering, other financial crimes, and terrorism.
Todd said that the SOCU search comes after Dominguez indicated last week that he was being investigated by SOCU and had visited the agency. The attorney, on Wednesday, claimed that the couple has already shown the police where the money is coming from.

Throughout the accusations the company has been maintaining that the investors’ money was being stored in a “Bitcoin” wallet.
“There is no questioning where the money is coming from. At the end of the day what is the objective is that the investors get back their money. You can’t tell them everyone must get back their money, but when he is doing that you storm in on him to seize the money. They have the records as to where the monies have been invested,” Todd related.

HELPLESS

Todd said the company will now have to halt repayments to the clients as the SOCU search team seized all records that were being used to refund the investors their money.
“Now he [Dominguez] has no record, nothing, the PIN number and codes to get the Bitcoin are gone. The man is totally helpless now. He can’t settle with the people, he can’t do anything now,” Todd said.

Todd had told the Guyana Chronicle that, as of Tuesday, over 100 investors have already received their monies.
Todd had shared that the company was trying to place emphasis on refunding those clients who would have begun investing this year.
“Every day we’re getting names and every day we are updating a spread sheet. When they are paid they sign a cancellation of their agreement,” Todd explained during the interview on Tuesday.

Further explaining he said: “We will take them in groups, and a time is be given to them to come because we don’t want a situation with people lining up. If they fall within the months of May, June, July, we are going to clear them off in the shortest of time and then go back to those persons who would have invested prior to May.”
The investors had the option of being paid by cash or by bank transfer. Some of the investors would have reached out to the company, while others who have not are being contacted by the company, according to Todd.

“The investor can either call the company or call my office and they can give their names and the amount that they invested, and we would then forward that info to the company that has made a spread sheet. The company is reaching out to the persons and they’re saying where investors can go to uplift the money. The location is not a location we would publish for security reasons of course,” Todd explained.

The Ponzi scheme accusations against the company had developed after several investors became worried and agitated after they were not receiving any word from the company on what was going on with their money. The company later said that they were unable to pay out money to clients after their bank accounts were closed by a number of local commercial banks. The police later facilitated the reopening of a bank account for the company, so that customers could be repaid.
The Guyana Chronicle was unable to make contact with any of the investors repaid by the company so far. However, the news has been a welcoming development for others who are awaiting their money back.

“I have to wait on the call from the company,” shared one investor who confirmed that he had last spoken to a representative from the company on Monday.
Though asking to remain anonymous, the investor shared that he had begun investing with the company in March, handing over $100,000 to the company, with a contract that promised him 40 percent per month in returns. Since then he had received a total of $40,000 in returns before the company stopped paying customers.
Nonetheless he shared that he is not worried about waiting to receive the rest of his money.

“It’s a process so everyone just have to wait. They said they will be calling each investor to tell them when to visit the company and take along their contract with them so they can receive their refund and have the contract terminated.