Alejandro Muszak, the CEO of the fintech Wenance, will remain imprisoned
in a case that investigates a multiplicity of scams that would have been carried out by the company, which defrauded savers of more than a million dollars.
Muszak was arrested on Monday night for the crimes of repeated fraud within the framework of an
illicit association, in what judicial sources describe as a "ponzi scheme"
. The CEO was arrested while leaving his home in Palermo and was preparing to get into a Mercedes Benz C63S, valued at more than 120 thousand dollars.
The Federal Court No. 1 of San Isidro denied his release and any other alternative measure to detention. Prosecutor Alejandro Guevara, from the Vicente López Prosecutor's Office, also requested the arrest of Paola Vallone, Pedro Viggiano and Anahí Mazzalan in the last hours.
They were detained this Wednesday at the prosecutor's office headquarters, when they showed up to "find out" about the case with their lawyers.
They join Muszak and Roberto Cleto García, director of the firm Be Capital, and Juan Silvero, who operated as treasurer, and who had already been arrested in the context of this case.
All of them refused to answer questions and both Silvero, as well as Vallone, Viggiano and Mazzalan, only excused themselves
"saying that they were employees and that they did not have any decision-making power or hierarchical position,
even though they were within the company's charter.
The case is being processed by the Federal Court No. 1 of San Isidro and was led by prosecutor Guevara. They had been working on the case since January, when some 27 savers sued the fintech that offered above-average returns in dollars. The prosecution was able to determine at least
24 fraudulent acts.
On Tuesday at mid-morning, Muszak had been questioned by the prosecutor's office. There he briefly stated that his case is an issue of commercial and not criminal justice. "He stated that he did not have the will to harm or defraud anyone, simply that he did poorly commercially and he could not pay the debts," judicial sources confirmed to
Clarín
. He then refused to answer questions.
The case in court No. 1 of San Isidro is not the only one that Muszak faces. He also has a case in the National Criminal and Correctional Court No. 43, led by Judge Paula González, who exempted him from prison on repeated occasions to the anger of savers. A group of victims led by lawyer Alejandro Liporacce filed a complaint here.
He also has a case that investigates him in Spain and is carrying out an investigation for the collection of overpayments on the loans he granted. There are victims from Córdoba, Buenos Aires and Tierra del Fuego among other provinces.
However,
in this case the investigators were able to prove that there was a real risk of flight on the part of the CEO,
who has his entire family living abroad. With this information, it was possible for the Guarantee Court No. 3 to enable the request for preventive detention that was executed yesterday by the DDI of Vicente López.
Wenance presented itself as a fintech that promised "financial freedom with the power of the people." Her business was providing personal loans to people outside the banking system, which she offered at much higher rates through various fancy names like "Welp" or "Mango."
They were low loans, for amounts of 100 or even 200 dollars
and at very high rates, which were used mainly for consumer products such as household appliances or motorcycles, as Muszak boasted.
They were funded by the money of the firm's investors, who were offered
returns of up to 12 percent annually in dollars
for lending their capital to Wenance. A recruitment scheme where a bonus was paid to anyone who could add new investors. Since the first interest was paid on time and in due form, this helped to continue attracting investors.
That money was going to three trusts managed by another company called Promotora Fiduciaria SA, also today at the center of the storm. According to its owner, Martín Abancens, the credits that came to him from Wenance were "duplicated."
This means that he transferred his loan portfolio between 3, 4 or 5 times.
The calling card was Muszak's reputation as a successful businessman and, above all, a "deliverer." Added to this was the guarantee of being approached by a trusted promoter, as
Clarín
was able to reconstruct based on the testimony of at least half a dozen affected investors. The stories and amounts differ from each other, but the forms are the same. In Argentina alone
there are about 8,000 victims who say they have put money into the company.
The thing is that beyond the credits it provided through Wenance, one of the strong points to understand was the company Be Capital Inversora, a firm that would function as a "cave" to move the black money that came into the company and from the one that Muszak always denied. According to what he swore in a defense last year, the signature does not belong to him. But now the justice system found evidence that would link him.
"There are testimonies from savers who say that they were sent from Wenance to invest in Be Capital, there are WhatsApp audios.
Muszak's relationship with Be Capital is undisguisable,"
summarized a judicial source.
Be Capital was in the name of Roberto Cleto García, a lawyer and university professor who had a personal relationship with the CEO of Wenance, as confirmed to this medium by judicial sources. The key fact is that the Be Capital offices were rented to the firm Créditos al Río, which belonged to the group of firms investigated.
Cleto García was arrested mid-morning, while Muszak was conducting his investigation. Silvero, for his part, was the one who took the promissory notes for the signature and was in charge of destroying the mutual ones. Before joining Be Capital he had been at Wenance, in a detail that proves the multiplicity of links between both firms.
Be Capital was declared bankrupt. On April 3, the credit verification request expired.
"Now they are going to evaluate whether it was a fraudulent bankruptcy
," he summarizes.
Muszak's arrest was a claim that had been made by the victims of the various legal cases that accused Muszak of fraud. Among those affected are almost 200 savers who are or were former employees of Telefe, and who put their money in the company on the recommendation of a colleague who had a particular arrangement with the firm.
It is just a sample of the trend left by the fall of the firm. Muszak maintains that the default began with the recession, which led to greater default by credit borrowers.
Uruguay also has a complex judicial front. Last week, the
Central Bank of that country
closed its activities and those of nearby companies, after complaints from some 600 savers that they had lost all their capital.
It is an adverse scenario for the CEO, who now adds to the multiplicity of cases against him the arrest from which he had escaped until now.