A family and their friends claim they gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to a man who they insist promised them they would multiply their money by far, but today, more than a year later, even after Reported it to state and federal authorities, they are still waiting for your payments. Telemundo 52 Responde to the second part of where was my money?
After receiving complaints from more than a dozen people, all pointing to Josué Vásquez, owner of Wolf and Raven, we decided to go find him to ask him for answers. Here I tell you what we found.
In November 2022, we visited this building in Santa Ana, where, according to what several of his clients told us, they were frequented by Josué Vásquez, owner of Wolf and Raven LLC, a company he defines himself as a “business incubator”. “It was here, according to Marina González and her son Joshua, that they met him:
Marina González invited her family to participate in an investment. “There was the secretary, the one who did the checks, there was the transformer, Josué Vásquez”, explained Marina González.
However, when we went to pick it up, these offices in Santa Ana, from what they told us were in the same building, had been closed for some time.
The reason we went to talk to Vasquez was because all these people said he was offering them contracts that weren’t fulfilled, as they complained to the state’s attorney, as well as the state’s attorney. Los Angeles County and the Federal Trade Commission.
The deal, which Vásquez, through his company Wolf and Raven LLC, offered them, was to lend money for a year to CG Bank, a so-called overseas private bank, which, according to this website – difficult to access because it raises security alerts in major Internet search engines – it would be located in the Comoros Islands, near Africa. We tried to confirm if the bank really exists, but when calling the phone number provided by the site, a machine answers, and there is no way to leave a message, and despite sending several emails to alleged employees, no one has responded to us regarding the alleged loans.
In fact, an internet search for CG Bank returns results indicating it is a scam.
It should be mentioned that the contracts are not signed by CG Bank, only by Vásquez, on behalf of his company, “Wolf and Raven”, although he indicates that he is only “processing the loan” and that he is in no way responsible for that. And they say that for every $10,000 they loan, participants will receive monthly payments of just over $2,000, which means that after one year, for every $10,000, the person will receive 24,455 $.
But more than a year has passed and the payments, according to those concerned, have stopped since February 2022. Even if for some, like Mr. Corona, the monthly payments have not even started.
“The first payment they had to make to me was February 27, 2022 and I never received a payment,” said Hector Ruben Corona.
“He has a lip! This comrade has a knack for selling you a dog dead as alive and you buy it from him,” said Armando Garcia, who “loaned” $20,000.
This is how Armando García, who invested $20,000, describes Josué Vásquez, who, according to his account, promised them that there was no risk.
“Everything was painted perfectly! They told me it’s not an investment, it’s a loan, your money is insured,” Garcia said.
And when the payments stopped coming, they say Vásquez gave them this explanation:
“He sent a message saying there were issues, they were going to be fixed. They were going to make some adjustments with the bank. The bank was growing. Supposedly he had been bought by another big bank,” said Hector Ruben Corona.
But the alleged problems were never resolved. And although the contract has a clause (number 10) that says if something goes wrong their money will be refunded, over a year later they claim to have received no refund. The contracts of this group of people, signed by Vásquez, indicate that together they loaned $360,000, so when we found out that Vásquez would appear in Los Angeles Superior Court in a separate case he was facing, we we went to ask him for answers.
During an interaction with Vásquez in court, I asked him, “Did you commit fraud against these people?” Do you keep your money?” Josué Vásquez replied, “You can accuse me of whatever you want, show me proof that I committed fraud, and then we’ll talk.”
Azalée: “I’m not accusing you, I’m asking you…a direct answer…yes or no, are you keeping these people’s money?”
Josué Vásquez: “I don’t have to answer you, you’re just a simple reporter… oops! THANKS! It’s as simple as that… so… (smiles sarcastically) Excuse me… If I want to give my version, I’ll give it to the judge”.
It should be mentioned that Vásquez, who has categorically denied having committed any fraud, had previously said that he would give me an interview on camera, but he never offered an exact date, because he said he was very busy, that’s why we approached him on the public highway. Upset after this meeting, he sent me a message, assuring me that his lawyer would contact me, so I asked for his contact details to communicate directly with him, but he refused them. It was January 9 and the alleged lawyer has not contacted me yet.
This case is already in the hands of the authorities, although they have not yet determined whether a fraud has been committed or not. But these types of investment deals, where people say they lose their life savings, are being reported more frequently than ever. So I spoke with experts from the FBI, who have important recommendations for being able to distinguish between a real opportunity and a fraud. I have this for you tomorrow, in Part 3 of Where Did My Money Go?