GEORGETOWN, Guyana – In a landmark ruling for financial crime enforcement in Guyana, a local court has handed down convictions and custodial sentences to two operators of a massive illegal Ponzi scheme, following a months-long investigation by the country’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).
Cuban national Yuri Garcia Dominguez and his Guyanese spouse Ateeka Ishmael were found guilty on multiple charges stemming from their fraudulent operation between May 18 and October 16, 2020, based out of Coldingen on East Coast Demerara. Presiding Magistrate Sunil Scarce, delivering judgment at the Vigilance Magistrates’ Court, imposed a one-year prison sentence and a GY$1 million fine on each defendant for the core charge of running an illegal Ponzi scheme.
Additional penalties were issued for a second offense: conducting unregistered financial business without accreditation from the Guyana Securities Council. For this violation, Dominguez received an 18-month prison sentence and a GY$100,000 fine, while Ishmael was handed a six-month prison term and an identical GY$100,000 fine. For context, one Guyana dollar is equivalent to 0.008 US cents, putting the combined fines for the pair at just over US$17,600.
The case was initiated after hundreds of Guyanese residents filed official complaints, reporting that they had lost hundreds of millions of Guyana dollars in total after investing their savings into the fraudulent scheme. After gaining investors’ trust, Ponzi schemes pay returns to early participants using funds collected from newer investors, eventually collapsing when new investment dries up and leaving late participants with total losses.
In an official statement following the ruling, SOCU framed the convictions as a critical milestone in upholding the South American country’s financial crime legislation. The agency noted the outcome marks significant progress in cracking down on unregulated investment schemes, curbing unauthorized financial activity, and safeguarding ordinary residents from exploitative criminal financial operations.
SOCU Deputy Commissioner Fazil Karimbaksh reaffirmed the unit’s ongoing commitment to rooting out financial crime across the country, including securities violations, suspected money laundering, and offenses linked to criminal proceeds. Karimbaksh added that SOCU will continue to prioritize bringing cases of this nature before the courts, aligned with Guyana’s broader national framework countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and transnational financial crime.