After it became known about the arrest of the president of the company 3.14 Inversiones, Mantequilla, the public wonders what were the reasons why the National Police detained the businessman residing in Bayaguana, a municipality in the Monte Plata province.
In conversation with the newspaper Hoy, Diego Pesqueira, spokesman for the uniformed, said that the arrest responds to the fulfillment of several arrest warrants against Mantequilla.
Pesqueira pointed out that the law enforcement institution is unaware of the details why the arrest of the man who for several months has been in the arena for his business style, which the monetary authorities consider as pyramidal, was requested in the jurisdiction of Bayaguana.
Although financial intermediation in the Dominican Republic is not typified in the Penal Codethe financial system does have regulations, and it is precisely that “legal roadblock” the one that has caused that for several years in the country there have been cases of pyramidal businesses that in the end end up in fraud; although experts point out that said economic activity should always be investigated.
The famous Wilkin García Peguero, Butterwith your company 3.14 Investments Remember in the current financial authorities the times that with said business, with the particularity of profits of 100% of what was invested, Dominicans were the object of deception in the past.
Telexfree
Such is the case of TelexfreeIn 2014, a Brazilian company that had a presence in various parts of the world, in the Dominican Republic it is believed that 145,000 Dominicans invested, registering an amount greater than RD$4,000.
Miguel Llenas, director of AF Consultores, the firm that brought the complaint to more than 10,000 affected by alleged fraud, and that the process lasted six years, indicated that the amount worldwide for deception by the company is US$400 million. . Later, Telexfree filed for bankruptcy in the United States.
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In the country, of the almost 150,000 scammed, only 35,000 claimed their money. But shortly after the well-known case of Telexfree, several companies with the same profile were investigated by the Dominican monetary authorities, without knowing what the investigations ended up to now.
There were five companies that in 2014 were targeted by the authorities, which reported that these businesses were dedicated to attracting resources from people in order to deliver attractive future profits.
The then Securities Superintendent (SIV), Gabriel Castro, told this newspaper that the companies were Bank PG; Quickshares, SRL; Grupo Peña Grullón, Telexfree Dominicana, SRL and Visión Travel.
He indicated that the entity initiated investigations in this regard because these firms operate under illegal schemes and are not registered in the Stock Market.
As with the Butter case, several economists warned about these businesses.
Several years later, the cryptocurrency business grew, and with it a series of applications in which X amount of money is invested via transfer, and the profits are received depending on the system and what type of company runs it.
KakaoTalk
In the case of KakaoTalkThousands of Dominicans were scammed when the application closed its operations with hundreds of thousands of pesos from its investors, not only in the Dominican Republic, but in several Latin American countries.
Like Telexfree, Kakao Talk promised exorbitant profits in a short time.
With the temptation that they could generate up RD$200,000 per monthhundreds of people in the country took the bait and are involved in another alleged Ponzi scheme via KakaoTalkan application whose name is similar to the Korean messaging system, promised exorbitant profits without putting in the least effort.
The particularity of this pyramid system was that it was mixed with the multi-level type, since if a person managed to get another to enter the business, they would earn up to 20 dollars.
Despite this, the public wonders what could follow after the self-defined “genius” of the Dominican Republic who resides in Sabana Grande de Boyá, Mantequilla, has emerged.
Who’s next? Mayonnaise, Cachú or Mustard?
The question could be answered with some other figure that in the future starts with the pyramidal system. And it is precisely what the bank superintendent seeks to avoid, Alexander Fernandez.
The official proposed last week after warning about the business of the young man from Sabana Grande de Boyá that, together with the Superintendency of the Stock Market, “prepare a bill to classify and penalize this type of activity so that we can act in a preventive, without having to wait for a private denunciation of fraud”.
Last Monday, Fernández warned that Mantequilla could be investigated for laundering. Meanwhile, 3.14 Investments seeks regularization. Last Tuesday, several officials from the General Directorate of Internal Revenue visited the facilities of said company to seek that the young man be regularized.
Meanwhile, after being mediated, Mantequilla said that his losses are more than 70 million pesos.
