Madrid (EFE).- Twenty-two defendants sit this Tuesday on the bench of the National Court for allegedly participating in a pyramid scheme that affected more than 50,000 victims around the world and managed to defraud up to 50 million dollars, in which He came to create an “invented virtual currency” called unetecoin or join.
The Prosecutor’s Office attributes crimes such as integration into a criminal group, fraud or money laundering and requests sentences of between eleven and a half years and seven and a half years in prison, as well as a series of compensation for the damages suffered by the victims of the fraud.
The highest punishment he claims is for José Manuel R., whom the public prosecutor considers, together with his wife, also accused, “most responsible” and partner of the company on which the scam revolved, Union Business Online LTD (Unetenet ). Both were in pretrial detention for these events.
Ponzi scheme base
The basis of the pyramid scheme was the creation of said company, registered in Kingstwon (Saint Vincent de Grenadines) as the parent of other subsidiaries, one of them with registered office in Rincón de la Victoria (Málaga).
Under the promise of earning money “for simple advertising”, the Prosecutor’s Office believes that the defendants recruited “citizens from all over the world, who would have acquired ‘packs or franchises'” from this company. However, it turned out that the “only way to recover your investment” was to use the money from the registration of new partners.
The facts, recounts the public ministry in its provisional conclusions document, date back to 2012, when the “leaders” of the company contacted the intermediate managers to publicize it through talks and videos and “get the maximum number of partners/victims”.
They were convinced that, if they bought “a series of packs”, they could obtain “great benefits by advertising Unetenet services” and that they had to pay “a prior monthly amount”. If they did not, they were terminated and did not recover their initial investment.
There were no end customers
The victims became part of the company with “the sole obligation of introducing a series of advertisements on the brand’s network”, but in reality no product was marketed because there were no end customers.
In order to obtain the promised income and recover the money invested, new partners were recruited, who were “incorporated into the pyramid”, and it was with their fees that the “benefits” were paid.
In April 2014, the alleged benefits began to be paid “in a virtual currency invented” by the two main defendants, called “unetecoin” or “únete”.
With the benefits obtained, says the Prosecutor’s Office, José Manuel R. “created a structure designed to launder money” through “a host of interposed companies” created in different countries.