Accelerated must know cryptocurrency is not legal in Guyana – AG

Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, yesterday said in an invited comment with this publication, that the proposed “cryptocurrency” repayment method by the principals of Accelerated Capital Firm (ACF) Inc. is not a legal tender in Guyana.
Kaieteur News had reported that the alleged Ponzi scheme operators’ officials, Yuri Garcia-Dominguez and his wife, Ateeka Ishmael, want to repay their more than 17,000 Guyanese ‘clients’ using cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency is a digital method designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein an individual can do online transactions – the most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.

Seen by this publication, was a message from marketers of ACF to investors.
According to the message, Dominguez has decided to repay his investors using cryptocurrency, since cash and cheques are not an option due to the difficulties getting access to the accounts.

In the message, the investors were told that, “Mr. Yuri will use an app called CoinZoom where he will transfer bitcoin to the marketers’ e-wallet and from there you will immediately sell the bitcoin for US dollars.”
“Afterwards, you can wire transfer the money to your bank account without any issue. Therefore, I will send a link for you to register on CoinZoom to activate your e-wallet. When you are called in by ACF for your payment, you can walk with your CoinZoom information to do the transfer.”

However, Minister of Legal Affairs and AG, Nandlall, told Kaieteur News that Garcia-Dominguez and his attorney, Dexter Todd, must know that cryptocurrency is not legal in Guyana.
According to the AG, the new repayment method that Garcia-Dominguez is seeking to implement seems like another excuse to not repay the persons that invested their monies with the company.
He added, “This guy [Garcia-Dominguez] is a fraud, it’s just excuses after excuses… first he requested to get out of prison, then it was access to computers followed by having access to a bank account. We granted all his requests and still the investors are yet to be repaid.”

The AG also highlighted, “After he was granted bail he announced a date for repayment and thousands of people are still waiting to receive their money…he claimed that the money was transferred to a bank account overseas, yet still there is no evidence of the money being transferred. How the money reach, nobody knows, and of course, it can’t fly and reach there.”

Kaieteur News also contacted an official at the Bank of Guyana (BOG) and the official was unable to confirm the use of cryptocurrency in Guyana since they have never heard of it.
Meanwhile, the new repayment method that Garcia-Dominguez announced has caused investors to worry about the further disadvantages in getting the bitcoins changed over to cash and whether or not it is just another delaying tactic.

Garcia-Dominguez and his wife, Ateeka Ishmael, both officials of ACF, are charged for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme in which in excess of US$20M was swindled out of the pockets of thousands of Guyanese.
The couple has also been slapped with two charges under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act.

Prior to the anti-money laundering charges, the two had appeared in three different magistrates’ courts, slapped with 80-plus fraud charges, which alleged that they obtained monies under false pretense.
Almost one month after the repayment process was halted due to the seizure of monies, electronics, and financial documents by the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU), an arm of the Guyana Police Force, the total number of persons that were repaid remains at 27.

According to reports, Garcia-Dominguez and Ishmael allegedly lured thousands of Guyanese claiming that by investing with their company, persons would get at least 40% return.
The investors were also encouraged to enlist additional investors on a 10% commission basis.
ACF Inc. is not registered with the Guyana Securities Council to conduct financial business, either as an investment advisor and/or a broker.
The new government, under Irfaan Ali, had launched an investigation after complaints were made by investors of not receiving their money.