A gang of fraudulent stock vendors is said to have cheated more than 400 investors for over 16 million euros. The prosecutor Dusseldorf has searched in this context, more than one hundred properties in Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein at the same time. Four arrest warrants, one of them in Greece, were executed and numerous pieces of evidence secured.
The procedure should have references to the procedure around the so-called "hawala banking", with which there were simultaneous searches. At the same time, an "internationally active criminal organization" with millions of remittances to Turkey is said to have operated money laundering on a large scale.
The prosecutor Dusseldorf has been investigating for two years on suspicion of band and commercial fraud and market manipulation against 50 suspects, said the Duma Dusseldorf. The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is also involved in the investigation.
There is a suspicion that several organizations structured in a network would have "brought to life" worthless securities and "created" a business purpose for public limited companies in order to attract the interest of potential investors. The fraudsters would have partially manipulated the value of the shares through purchases. The worthless shares were advertised and distributed by call centers. Investors who had already acquired the worthless securities were made lucrative exchange offers, in order to move them to further investments.
By money laundering and other financial transactions, the origin of the spoils had been veiled. Subsequently, the loot was distributed to the gang members.
In order not to jeopardize the investigation, the Public Prosecutor's Office does not currently provide information on the identity of the persons accused, the companies and securities.
