Enrique Blaksley was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the Hope Funds mega-scam

Today, Thursday, March 9, after more than two years of trial, Oral Court No. 4 Sentenced Enrique Juan Blaksley Señorans By Majorityformer president of the firm Hope Funds, to 8 years in prison and a fine of “four times the amount of the operations” because it could be the biggest scam in Argentine history, under unlawful association offenses311 scams, criminal money laundering and fraudulent insolvency.

The business of Hope Funds was originally savings collection system through mutual contracts that promised monthly interest of up to 18%, a typical Ponzi scheme. The company has grown into an international network of more than 40 companies. Arrive until the Panama Papers and tax havens like the British Virgin Islands. It included the purchase of a polo club in Pilar, properties in Miami and Panama and the sponsorship of top athletes like Adolfo Cambiaso. Hope Funds was part of La Dolfina’s kit during their 2013 campaign, where they won the Triple Crown, polo’s highest honor. Hope Funds also sponsored visits by Roger Federer, Venus and Serena Williams, and participated in the memorable Usain Bolt race against the Metrobus. Hope Funds came racking up more than 25 bankruptcy petitions, unpaid dues and nearly 5 million pesos 2016 value in bad checks. The promised money did not come. Faced with pressure from its creditors, the firm abandoned its offices on Calle Uruguay.

The estimated damages in the case, initiated in 2014 and investigated by Judge María Romilda Servini, Prosecutor Alejandra Mangano and PROCELAC, amount to at least $90 million. The case was not only about small fish, but also big fish. Money laundering was the beginning of Hope Funds’ downfall, which led to the first case against it in federal court. According to AFIP, Of 521 relieved customers, only three had the ability to justify their trips.

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The tribunal that rendered the award was composed of the judges Nestor Costabel, Ricardo Basilico and Jorge Gorini. He tax Abel Córdoba He had requested in his plea last October a sentence of ten years in prison, plus a fine of six times the amount of the damage in the case. The AFIP, a civil party in the case, had requested 12 years in prison for the businessman, the same as the the plaintiffs Hernán Vega and Victor Varone, of the law firm Iezzi & Varone. Gonzalo Romero Victorica, the first complainant in the case, went further: he asked for 18 years in prison.

Dressed in a blue sweater, Blaksley heard the verdict from home, with an electronic anklet strapped to his foot. He was arrested in September 2018 at his home in Pacheco Golf country. Later, he was sent to Ezeiza prison, where he was released last December thanks to a deposit of 391 million pesos in properties and cars handed over by his family and a businessman of Bolivian origin.

Federico Dolinkué, Blaksley’s main partner, was sentenced to four years in prison. Pablo Andrés Wila, original lawyer for Hope Funds, was sentenced to 3 years in prison as co-author criminally responsible for the offense of illicit association, 182 scams, in real competition with money laundering. Verónica Inés Vega, Blaksley’s sister-in-law, was given 3 years and six months and a fine of twice the transaction amount for 286 scams and money laundering.

At today’s hearing, the fraud allegedly committed in 2009 by Blaksley, Pablo Carozzino, Pablo Willa and others was declared statute-barred. However, the tribunal he rejected all the arguments of nullity of the means of defense and the argument of the unconstitutionality of the penalty of fine.

Today’s audience included in its first part the last words of two defendants.

Daniela Zarza, former companion of Damián Gómez Cárdenas, accused of being a figurehead of Blaksley, assured in her last words that she had been the victim of a “judicial and economic violation” and asked to be acquitted.

Gómez Cárdenas, for his part, assured that “we have never been heard in the court of first instance”, by María Romilda Servini. “It hurts me,” he continued, “They’ve dedicated themselves to trying to destroy us psychologically…They’ve tried to break us down for admitting something that never happened…For a promissory note, they took me and my wife to prison, it’s unbelievable… I’m not what they claim to be, I had to put up with notes in the media that are far from reality Thank God I only had to explain a situation”. “We’re going to get kicked out of this, otherwise there’s no reason”he concluded.

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