Accused Ponzi scheme couple in court again to face 11 more charges
Yuri Garcia Dominguez and his wife, Ateeka Ishmael, the couple accused of operating a Ponzi scheme were yesterday slapped with 11 more charges.
The couple was arraigned before Magistrate Dylon Bess at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Courts when the additional 11 charges were read to them. They were placed on $4.4 million bail for the 11 charges, $200,000 for each charge.
They were told to return to court on October 7.
Dominguez, 34, a naturalised Guyanese of Cuban origin, and his wife Ishmael, 32, both of Track A, Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, are part of a company which is alleged to have operated a Ponzi scheme here.
They have appeared before Vigilance Magistrates Melissa Mittelholzer and Fabayo Azore, as well as Sparendaam Magistrate Alisha George and a Magistrate at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts last week when they were charged with 47 counts of conspiracy to commit a felony. Total bail allocated to them was $13.4 million. They were also remanded by Magistrate George.
The matters will be heard again on September 18 before Magistrate Mittelholzer, on September 21 before Magistrates George and Azore, and on October 5 at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Courts.
The Guyana Police Force in a statement had said that the couple was detained as part of an ongoing investigation of alleged fraud. The couple has been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme in which approximately 17,000 Guyanese lost hundreds of millions of dollars after they invested with the unlicensed company the couple is attached to.
Police Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum says that the police have obtained a total of sixty-nine statements from investors who reached out to the Criminal Investigation Department, thus far. These individuals had seventy-seven transactions amounting to $ 135 million, Blanhum disclosed.