In cinematographic language, it could be said that it is “Two Kinds of Care” alluding to the Mexican classic by Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, but unfortunately, also in legal matters, these are two criminal types of care.
The recent events derived from the failed operation of Professional Legal Advisors (AJP) in Guadalajara, Jalisco; show once again how easy it can be for people to be seduced and agree to entrust their resources to a third party that does not have the required government authorization (or any guarantee or support) to carry out said activity, resulting in unfortunate consequences for many directly affected and indirectly.
In general terms, most of us understand or have an idea more or less close to what fraud implies, it is a concept that even without being lawyers we know and claim when we feel wronged, and that the criminal type is also easy to understand: “Federal Penal Code Art. 386.- The crime of fraud is committed by the one who deceives someone or takes advantage of the error in which he/she finds himself/herself, illegally commits something or obtains an undue profit.”; and in the case of the similar case in the State of Jalisco, basically the elements are the same, expressly adding that the undue benefit may be “for himself or for another”. For this reason, I rather want to share a reflection on the other type of care: Irregular Recruitment.
Here things change, not all of us are aware that it exists and even less what it is about, what it implies and of course, what consequences it has. For this, we bring to the stand this guy who lives in the Law of Credit Institutions (LIC) in Article 111, when the provisions of 2 and 103 of the same are violated. For practical purposes, I copy the beginning of Art.103 “No natural or legal person may directly or indirectly capture resources from the public in national territory, by entering into deposit, loan, credit, mutual or any other act causing direct or contingent liability, being obliged to cover the principal and, where appropriate, the financial accessories of the resources raised…”; especially when it is requested, offered or promoted to an unspecified person or through mass media, or when it is carried out on a regular or professional basis (Art. 2 LIC).
In other words, receiving deposits from the public and committing to return the capital with or without yield, under the figure that one wants to present, is prohibited and if its non-observance is proven, it constitutes a crime. In Mexico, only Banks, Sofipos, Sofincos, Socaps and some other very specific assumptions, also regulated in financial legislation, can do this.
When these situations arise, we see that it is not capricious for the law to impose these restrictions, it is precisely to protect the interests of the public. How paradoxical and cruel, it ends up being that in the models of irregular recruitment and that additionally imply a pyramid scheme, it happens that those who invest, in turn, invite others to do the same, and so on, but commonly it is their closest, dearest people, your family and friends; and they will suffer the same fate the moment the model is no longer sustainable.
Make lucid events with big screens and offer toasts, present themselves as successful financial advisors, be accompanied by well-known people from the sports and entertainment media; It’s fine, as long as it doesn’t cross the line of offering you a very profitable investment, because these are usually some of the tricks that the pair of careful types use. If you like movies, I recommend Robert De Niro’s movie, The Wizard of Lies, in which he represents Bernie Madoff, financial advisor, who carried out a pyramid scheme in New York for 64,800 million dollars harming thousands of companies, financial agents, and rich and not so rich people in the United States; arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for the same. As you can see, it happens everywhere and at all levels, but the important thing is that it doesn’t happen to you.
Twitter: @LBartolini
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