GFSC ban Ponzi scheme operator who is serving 20 years in prison!!!!
29/03/2021
The Providence scandal is a blot on the Islands' landscape, and the legal, regulatory and political response to date has been shocking. Lots of Channel Islanders (and investors further afield) lost their life savings in a regulated Guernsey scheme (Ponzi scheme!!) because many professional gatekeepers were asleep at the wheel. Why has there not been a public enquiry?
GFSC take action - March 2021
- On 4th March 2021, The GFSC took action against the perpetrators of the Ponzi scheme –
- It Issued a £55,000 financial penalty on Mr Jose Eduardo Paula de Lima Araujo.
- It prohibited the following from performing any function on behalf of a regulated entity.
- Mr Jose Eduardo Paula de Lima Araujo. (Providence Managing Director – Brazil),
- Mr Antonio Carlos de Godoy Buzaneli (Providence Founder and Chief Executive Officer) and
- Mr Jose Manuel Ordoñez (Providence Chief Operating Officer)
What is the point?
- Banning someone who is in prison for 20 years seems a bit hollow.
- Buzaneli was sentenced to 20 years, and Ordoñez was sentenced to 120 months in prison,
Comsure look back
- Following one of the biggest Channel Islands financial scandals in recent times (yes, there are others!!), not a lot has happened, albeit Jersey did Jail one facilitator for 7 years.
- And what about Deloitte (as administrators) suing PwC for "negligence, breach of duty and breach of contract" in its role as auditor to the Providence fund.
- And what about the criminal investigation into Providence that was launched on Guernsey in October 2016, where four men were arrested on suspicion of fraud. I presume a Guernsey criminal investigation is grinding on in the background, or has it been silently dropped?
This story is a blot on the Islands' landscape, and the legal, regulatory and political response to date has been shocking.