Yuri, wife slapped with 38 fraud charges

Cuban national, Yuri Garcia Dominguez and his wife Ateeka Ishmael were on Monday slapped with another 38 charges of conspiracy to defraud.

The couple, who is no stranger to the courts and is accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Police said the couple was then placed on self-bail and the case was postponed to October 26, 2021. The couple is also currently before the courts facing over 100 charges of fraud.

The Guyana Police Force in August 2021, filed 60 charges against the couple for the offence of conspiracy to defraud, allegedly committed on victims of a ponzi scheme.

Last month, Garcia and his wife were accused of falsifying their COVID-19 test results to show that they had tested positive for the virus as they absented themselves from court. Police Headquarters had stated that investigations into the authenticity of the test results found that the results were false.

According to the Guyana Police Force, Dominguez and his wife solicited millions of dollars from hundreds of unsuspecting Guyanese, who were enticed by extraordinary returns of approximately 40 per cent. Investors were also encouraged to enlist additional investors on a 10 per cent commission basis.
Dominguez had said previously, through his attorney Dexter Todd, that he intends to refund some $100 million to over 3,000 investors, whose investments he was ‘managing’ in a forex trading account.

The company Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. was charged for operating without a license from the Guyana Securities Council and running a pyramid scheme and a Ponzi scheme.