A husband-and-wife duo has been convicted and sentenced to prison for illegally operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of Guyanese investors of hundreds of millions of dollars, following a lengthy investigation by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).
Yuri Garcia Dominguez and Ateeka Ishmael were sentenced on Thursday by Magistrate Sunil Scarce at the Vigilance Magistrates’ Court after being found guilty of operating the illegal investment scheme and conducting unregistered financial business activities in Guyana.
For the offence of operating a Ponzi scheme, both Dominguez and Ishmael were each fined $1 million and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
Dominguez was also fined $100,000 and sentenced to an additional 18 months imprisonment for carrying on a business without registering with the Guyana Securities Council, contrary to Section 47(10) of the Securities Industry Act, Cap. 73:04. Ishmael received a $100,000 fine for the same offence, with a default sentence of six months imprisonment.
The charges stemmed from allegations that between May 18 and October 16, 2020, the couple operated the investment scheme from Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, attracting large sums of money from investors before allegedly defrauding them.
According to SOCU, the investigation was launched after hundreds of Guyanese reported losing significant amounts of money after investing in the scheme. The agency said the probe was complex and spanned several months before sufficient evidence was gathered to lay charges against the pair.
The defendants were represented by Attorney-at-Law Eden Corbin, while SOCU’s case was prosecuted by Attorney-at-Law Darin Chan, Deputy Superintendent Neville Jeffers and Sergeant Aaron Daniels.
In a statement following the convictions, SOCU described the outcome as a significant milestone in the enforcement of Guyana’s financial crime laws, particularly those governing investment schemes and unregistered financial activities.
The agency said the convictions underscore the importance of protecting citizens from unlawful financial operations and serve as a warning to individuals seeking to engage in similar schemes.
Head of SOCU, Deputy Commissioner Fazil Karimbaksh, reaffirmed the unit’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting financial crimes, including securities-related offences, suspected money laundering, and proceeds-of-crime matters.
He noted that SOCU will continue pursuing such cases through the courts as part of Guyana’s broader anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and financial crime framework.
