The Justice raided on Friday offices of Generation Zoe in Villa María, Córdoba, arrested a manager and issued an arrest warrant against another eight, including its owner Leonardo Cosicorto, for the alleged crimes of illicit association and fraudWhile hundreds of savers in Buenos Aires they crowded into the organization’s headquarters to claim the funds invested.
The procedures were carried out based on complaints of fraud through investment maneuvers with the system known as ponzi or pyramid schemewhich consists of raising funds with promises to pay generous profits in interest.
The Cordoba headquarters of Generación Zoe was closed this week, while in recent days customers have been claiming for the payment delays of utilities.
After learning of the arrest and arrest warrants for company executives for alleged financial scams in Córdoba, hundreds of people gathered on Friday at the headquarters of Generación Zoe, in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núñez.
For his part, in a video posted on the Generación Zoe channel on YouTube, Cositorto explained that the organization is in “a process of internal restructuring and redesign of offers” and denounced that “for 46 days business and media groups have begun to seek to generate a smear campaignwith systematic and tenacious attacks”.
After assuring that it is “only two offices in Córdoba” that paralyzed service, he asked the clients of that province to move “in community” and them offered a 50% increase in benefits to acknowledge their “support and patience for this month.”
“The company is making payments every day, but four accounts were blocked,” he excused himself and insisted that “you have to have patienceperseverance and union”, while reporting that he has a new lawyer.
According to official information provided by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Villa María Prosecutor for Instruction, Juliana Companys, ordered the arrest by Gabriela Alvarez; and, in addition to Cositorto, it issued the international arrest warrant for Maximiliano Javier Batista, Claudio Javier Álvarez, Silvia Rosa Fermani, Silvina Verónica Abellonio, Silvio Eduardo Shamne, Ivana Analía Álvarez and Florencia Anahí Álvarez.
From mid-morning the spiritual organization clients They went to the building at 1801 Crislogo Larralde Street, which was guarded by police personnel, and waited for hours for information about their money and the intention of recovering it.
The testimonies of the savers agreed that many of them had entrusted a good part of their savings to Zoe and were alerted to the risk of losing them with the news of the raids.
Until late in the afternoon the rows of investors inside the building waiting to be served and get some precision about their funds, while dozens crowded the street waiting for news.
Days ago, the federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano had charged alleged scam maneuvers to Cositorto and requested a series of test measures based on two complaints in which he is accused of Unauthorized public savings capture and market manipulation.
The request presented before the federal judge Ariel Lijo included references to a complaint derived by the Public Ministry of the City of Buenos Aires and another that first triggered an investigation by the Attorney for Economic Crime and Money Laundering (Procelac).
The file began on November 12 of last year as a result of the complaint of an individual who requested that an alleged fraud and economic fraud to the treasury by the organization “Generation Zoe”, given that “under the guise of a supposed cult and a fake university…offers[ría] graduates in cryptocurrencies and coaching”.
A preliminary investigation carried out by the Attorney General’s Office was also included in the file. Economic Crime and Money Laundering in order to investigate the same facts, following the complaint made by Javier Madariaga, on behalf of the Asociación Civil Decodes (NGO Bitcoin Argentina).
This NGO has been following “the actions and public interventions of the different companies of the Zoe group and those responsible”, as was duly informed through a statement.
For its part, the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ) decided to investigate several companies linked to Zoe Capital with the aim of verify their real and effective activityas well as the fulfillment of its social object Y contractualthe identification of its members and members of its corporate bodies.
This control is added to the one already started on January 26 by the National Value Comission (CNV), which reported that it is investigating a number of companies for the possible conduct of legal acts with negotiable securities without proper authorization of the organism, which could involve fraudulent operations based on Ponzi schemes.
