Obama, Lula
Reaffirm development of U.S.-Latin America
Ties
Colombia Fraud
Victims Get Just $96 Each
Colombia Bank Says Cut
Doesn’t Imply Similar Moves
Post Literate
Bolivia for Inclusion
Colombia Fraud
Victims Get Just $96 Each
Bogota
(AP) — Thousands of investors who lost
savings, big and small, in a Colombian
pyramid scheme will receive just us$96
apiece in compensation, the government
announced Friday.
Maria Mercedes Perry, the official named to
oversee DMG Group Holdings SA, said the
government so far has recovered just 52
billion pesos — about us$20.5 million —
largely in cash found in the company's
offices.
She said it would be divided equally among
the 214,000 investors, regardless of how
much they had deposited.
Depositors staged violent protests in
November and December, when the company and
other pyramid operators were closed down.
They had already been warned that the payout
would be small and that all would receive
the same amount.
Prosecutors say DMG, founded in 2005,
collected some us$800 million in deposits
before it was shut down by the government in
November.
The company had promised interest of well
over 100 percent a year through a system of
prepaid cards that could be used to buy
merchandise.
Company founder David Murcia and several of
his partners are being held in prison in
Bogota on charges of money laundering. Two
of the partners were recently sentenced to
53 months in prison. |
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