Tomorrow the verdict will be known in the trial of Enrique Blaksley, accused of the biggest fraud in Argentine history

Tomorrow Thursday, after more than two years of proceedings and more than 300 witnesses, Federal Oral Court No. 4 -composed of judges Néstor Costabel, Ricardo Basílico and Jorge Gorini- will dictate the verdict of the trial in the case of the holding company Hope Fundsconsidered the biggest scam in the history of Argentina.

Business man Enrique Blaksley, former chairman of Hope Funds, is the main defendant under the crimes of illicit association, fraud, criminal money laundering, unauthorized collection of savings and fraudulent insolvencywith a complex international network of companies run by the firm he headed. There, according to the charge against him, Hope Funds promised interest to savers who put their money back into mutual contracts.

In October last year, Attorney General Abel Córdoba has requested ten years in prison for Blaksley in addition to a heavy fine: if he is condemned according to his terms, he will have to pay six times the sums in question, a figure that will have to be defined. AFIP, a civil party in the case, requested 12 years in prison for the businessman, as did the plaintiffs Hernán Vega and Victor Varone. Gonzalo Romero Victorica, the first complainant in the case, went further: he asked for 18 years in prison.

The estimated damage in the case reached 1,500 million pesos in 2017 value, or nearly $90 million. According to federal justice, after an investigation by prosecutor Alejandra Mangano and judge María Romilda Servini, this money was wasted or diverted to different tax havens with properties in Miami and Panama.

The prosecution reached 15 other people: as Federico Dolinke -minority partner of Hope Funds and administrative manager and in charge of the creation of companies abroad-, Alexander Miguel Carozzino; and the commercial director, his sister-in-law Verónica Vega. Pablo Andrés Willa, former lawyer for Blaksley and repentant in the case, He was also designated as a member of the group’s hierarchical core.

For everyone, Córdoba required between six and five years in prisonIn addition, like Enrique Blaksley, to reimburse six times what was defrauded.

Blaksley’s defense asked his acquittal.

The businessman was arrested by the municipal police at his home in the Pacheco Golf estate in April 2018 and was sent to Ezeiza prison. Over time, the justice offered him the possibility of release on bail. At the end of last year, Court No. 4 accepted the offer made by Mariano J. Vareladefender of Blaksley, an “offer of real estate brought by Mary Blaksley y Marie Mercedes Blaksley there Javier Enrique Ochoaas well as that corresponding to Maria Mercedes Senoras” to satisfy a bail request and obtain house arrest. The proposal was then expanded: two properties and six vehicles were added, for a total of 391 million pesos.

TOF No. 4 ordered the activation of an electronic anklet and the seizure of the five properties presented, located in areas such as San Isidro, Palermo and La Matanza, as well as the cars, among which an Audi Q2 behalf Joseph Blaksley. The surname is a constant in the titles presented. Two different appraisals value this Audi at more than 11 million pesos.

The property that corresponds to Palermo, located in Niceto Vega at 5,700, exceeds 67 million. This property, unlike the others, which belonged to the Blaksley family, is in the name of a Bolivian businessman who runs several construction companies with no social ties with the defendants, at least according to what is indicated in the Official Journal. The 41-year-old businessman has worked for various construction companies over the past 15 years and used to receive a universal assignment.

SO, the main defendant in the case managed to get out of prisonaccording to sources familiar with the matter.

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