El Diaro studies
The Police are following the path within the Canary Islands of the ideologues of Juicy Fields and suspect that they tried to launder cash with high-end actual property developments within the south of the island.
When the Juicy Fields hashish pyramid scheme collapsed in July 2022 1000’s of traders world wide questioned the place these accountable had been chargeable for dropping a whole lot of thousands and thousands of euros.
A few of them, together with their alleged chief, had been hidden in Tenerife and are devoted to the development of luxurious villas that might be bought with cryptocurrency, as elDiario.es was in a position to confirm.
As revealed by elDiario.es in Could 2022 , the agreements that Juicy Fields claimed to have with main international hashish firms had been false and all pointed to a pyramid scheme. Two months later, these accountable disappeared with all of the traders' cash.
The European Police Workplace Europol estimates that the defrauded quantity is 645 million euros, though it admits that it might be a lot larger as a result of many victims didn’t report. It’s estimated that in whole there are about 186,000 affected traders. In Spain, the place the case stays below abstract secrecy, there are virtually 1,800 complainants and the quantity stolen exceeds 24 million.
Not less than two of these arrested in “operation Stoner” resided in Tenerife earlier than the pyramid scheme collapsed and throughout the months that adopted. Sources near Juicy Fields, nonetheless, keep that half a dozen of the authors of the fraud can even meet on this Canary Island after having saved all the cash.
It was within the municipality of Adeje, they keep the identical sources, the place a video was recorded through which six masked males seem defending that the Juicy Fields mission was going to work once more although the cash had disappeared.
Two arrested with actual property firms on the island
Two of these arrested within the worldwide operation are linked to actual property firms in Tenerife. The primary is the Russian citizen Sergey B., which Europol considers one of many leaders of the rip-off. Sergey resided in Tenerife for a very long time after which fled to the Dominican Republic, the place he was intercepted by the police and his extradition to Spain is pending.
The second detainee linked to Tenerife is the Latvian Roman S., one of many closest associates of the chief of the plot, who lived within the Canary Islands with a excessive lifestyle and driving high-end vehicles.
Simply six months earlier than Juicy Fields went bankrupt, Roman S. created an actual property buy and sale firm within the municipality of Adeje, in line with the industrial register. In January 2024, shortly earlier than being arrested, he created one other firm with an identical identify in the UK. Sergey's ex-partner, one of many alleged leaders of the rip-off, additionally appeared as an agent within the organizational chart of the Spanish firm.
The corporate was devoted to constructing new luxurious villas within the south of Tenerife after which promoting them for big sums of cash. He additionally supplied the chance to purchase with cryptocurrencies and reminded traders that costs in Tenerife “proceed to develop steadily”.
In line with the final stability sheet of the corporate, the corporate had 2.2 million belongings. The headquarters of the corporate was searched by UDEF brokers throughout the police operation, elDiario.es discovered. This editorial workforce has repeatedly referred to as the corporate for remark and has acquired no response.
The opposite sector through which the 2 inmates invested the cash had been the hashish golf equipment within the Canary Islands, in line with varied sources within the sector within the islands. The sources consulted clarify that it was widespread to see Sergey B. and Roman S. in these areas in Tenerife. “They left with good vehicles, bundles of cash and costly garments,” remembers an individual who met them on a couple of event.
Ties to the Russian mafia
Once they arrested the pinnacle of Juicy Fields within the Dominican Republic, they discovered a number of magazines for 9 millimeter pistols, tens of hundreds of euros in money in varied currencies and cryptocurrencies, in addition to a number of passports with totally different identities.
Sergey has carried out below varied names during the last decade. In Juicy Fields his identify was Paul Berkholtz and that's how he appeared on considered one of his passports. Up to now, nonetheless, he posed as Mark Konwal and allegedly ran one other very related on-line rip-off.
The corporate was referred to as Reciclyx, it was created on the finish of 2015 and gives on-line traders to purchase plastic waste that the corporate will then flip into recycled granules and characterize a 40% revenue in just a few months.
In 2017, these chargeable for Reciclyx disappeared with all the cash, claiming that the manufacturing unit had been destroyed by hearth. As occurred with Juicy Fields, after the theft, the web site was nonetheless saved open and traders had been assured that they might get their a reimbursement. It by no means occurred.
Among the investigators consulted by this newsroom suspect that Sergey and different leaders of the plot keep ties with the Russian mafia. A whistleblower who was a part of the Juicy Fields organizational chart revealed details about the fraud via Swedish lawyer Lars Olofsson, who represents a whole lot of defendants, and offered proof of hyperlinks between executives and arranged crime.
https://www.eldiario.es/catalunya/villas-lujo-coches-deportivos-escondite-tenerife-responsables-estafa-piramidal-cannabis_1_11401388.html
