“We Were Skeptical At First” – Victim of Ponzi Scheme Fraud

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Cuban born, Yuri Garcia Dominguez, and his Guyanese wife have been arrested by police and subsequently released as investigations into a multi-billion dollar alleged Ponzi Scheme Fraud continues.

10th of June, 2021. Georgetown, Guyana, South America.

Last updated: June 10, 2021 at 12:44 pm

A Guyanese citizen who was duped into investing 3.6 million dollars into Yuri Garcia Dominguez’s alleged rip off scheme has reached out to this publication to tell her story saying that she was skeptical at first but later bought into the swindle – hook, line, and sinker. Mr. Dominguez and his wife operated an unlicensed and unregulated “investment company” in Guyana for several years under the name “Accelerated Capital Firm.”

Mary (not her real name) first heard about the “amazing opportunity” to earn high returns on investment sometime in the year 2019. And at first, she was skeptical…and rightly so. When someone told her that she could receive 40% return on investment every month just by investing 100,000 Guyana dollars, she thought the deal was simply “too good to be true.”

To put this into perspective, you were invited to make a deposit of $100,000 on which you earn $40,000 every month for one year – at the end of which you can continue investing or retrieve your initial deposit. You can also add to your deposit at any time to increase your Return on Investment. Sounds like a fairytale dream, doesn’t it? No. In fact, it’s an actual nightmare.

Several months later, when Mary heard the story of another woman who had invested and “earned” enough money to buy a new vehicle, and then a few other “mega-success” stories, her curiosity peaked. She was convinced, or more like, she fell for the bait. Looking back at it all, Mary deduces that Mr. Dominguez might have been in the practice of paying off the “big mouth propagandists” to pedal his bag of deceit around town. And they did an awesome job.

Being fully convinced of the program, and having been informed that it involved legitimate “trading practices,” Mary invested a total of 3.6 million Guyana dollars around April, 2020. She waited patiently for her returns, but when none came, she began to get worried. Several more months passed and still no payment. Then, around September, 2020, Yuri and his wife were arrested on the grounds of a massive fraud – the magnitude of which is still difficult to gauge.

But Mary remained hopeful that she would at least get back her capital. For three months, she had been served excuses such as “the bank is not releasing the money,” “the pandemic has slowed the business,” and “you need to wait a little while more.” Now, after being arrested and the matter was being investigated by the Attorney General of Guyana himself, Mr. Anil Nandlall, Yuri Garcia Dominguez, on national television, promised to repay all his “clients” or “investors.”

To date, only a handful, if any at all, of these repayments were honored. Mary said she suspects that so far, a few people who had invested very small amounts of say, $100,000, might have been given a refund. But she knows quite a lot of people who invested millions and are still waiting for the first dime.

The woman related that at one point, subsequent to Yuri’s arrest, investors were advised that they can get a refund by photocopying their investment contracts and taking it in to the Coldingen Office on the East Coast of Demerara, Guyana, South America. They were told that they will then be eligible for an immediate payout of their capital minus 30% on the spot, or their entire capital within 3 months. The choice was theirs whether to accept a 30% loss for an immediate payout or wait three months for a full payout. However, it all turned out to be a bluff. Upon arriving with their documents at the Coldingen Office, desperate persons only met a young woman who told them that Mr. Dominguez was not around but that they could leave their documents and they will be responded to in the near future.

This only further infuriated the “investors” who demanded to see Mr. Yuri in person. The young woman at the office, under pressure from irate persons, called Mr. Yuri who spoke to some of the people on the phone. Apparently, he managed to assure them. However, as far as Mary knows, none of the persons who submitted documents that day has been called or refunded. Mary relates that she is disappointed that the world seemed to have gone silent on the matter as the “investigations” by the Guyana Police Force drags on at a snail’s pace.