Queens Ponzi Scheme Falls on Latinos

Around 20 Latinos held a demonstration in front of the Queens District Attorney’s building to demand actions against Inversionistas Unidos. Another group of more than 30 people was also demonstrating at the main office of this company in Rego Park. “This is a ponzi scheme” and “Liliana Henao and Oswaldo Patiño must be arrested,” was written on some of the posters that these investors made to call the attention of the public.

(Pulse aquí para leer un artículo en Español de Inversionistas Unidos)

The group obtained an appointment for this coming Friday with the office of Richard Brown, Queens District Attorney. At Inversionistas Unidos’s main office, Howard Leader, the lawyer hired by Henao and Patiño was trying to calm down all the investors. “They stole our money” and “we demand to see Oswaldo and Liliana,” some invertors were screaming at the lobby of Inversionistas Unidos. They waited for hours to talk to the lawyer and to Ximena Ibarra, a representative of Inversionistas Unidos.

They were people such as Francisco Galeano who invested 145,000 dollars of his pension. “I started investing in January of 2010, first in exports and imports, and then in commodities. But they stopped my payments this year”, said Galeano. Bernardo Patiño invested 190,000 dollars and the only thing he received from Inversionistas Unidos was a check of 22,000 dollars that bounced back from the back.
Teo Hernández wants his 27,000 dollars back from Inversionistas Unidos. César Cuzco is waiting for 35,000 dollars. Martha López has waited since February of this year for a payment of 200,000 dollars. Franklin López is waiting to get a check of almost 200,000 dollars. “They showed their faces, but not they are hiring as criminals,” said Franklin López.
“I need my 10,000 dollars,” said Luis Punchuela. Angelito Gutama doesn’t want to say how much money he put in Inversionistas Unidos, but is fighting to get his investment back. “We believed in Liliana and Oswaldo, and they can’t pay us this way. It is unfair,” said Gutama. “Maybe the lawyer will help us.”
Ninfa Núñez and her two sons invested 25,000 dollars. “They took our money. This is a fraud,” said Núñez. “They should face this reality and pay for their actions,” said Cecilia Alvarez who wants to recuperate her 20,000 dollars investment in Inversionistas Unidos.

MORE ACCUSATIONS

Out of despair, a group of investors plan a demonstration this week in front of the Queens District Attorney’s office. “The government is not helping us”, said Gladys Viker. “Inversionistas Unidos is a Ponzi scheme and the two persons running this company have disappeared. We have shown the bounced checks and some other documents to the District Attorney, but they haven’t done anything.”

Three weeks ago, when QueensLatino.com asked the Queens District Attorney if they were doing something to help more than 400 Latino investors, we did not get an answer. Yesterday, this same government office told us “Yes, we are investigating Inversionistas Unidos, but we haven’t reached a conclusion and nobody has been arrested yet”.

Viker is not only a private investigator. She is also one of the investors who wants her money back. “We demand action from the U.S. government. These people should be arrested and we want to collaborate with a Grand Jury. This is a Ponzi scheme and they are using our money for loan sharking.”

The founders of Inversionistas Unidos are Oswaldo Patiño and Liliana Henao. Two weeks ago they were answering e-mails, but not any more. Some investors have lost all communication with them and so has QueensLatino.com. Patiño and Henao hired a lawyer, Howard Leader, but his answers are not convincing.

“I just took the case two weeks ago and I am still waiting for documents. Some investors don’t know what they’re talking about,” said Leader, the lawyer. When he was asked where Patiño and Henao are, his answer was: “It is not important where they are, but what they are doing. They are trying to pay the money back.”

Patiño isn’t acccepting or answering e-mails. Some weeks ago, Henao was referring to a plan A or B to save Inversionistas Unidos. She said that some money was in the Federal Reserve Bank, “ready to be released.” She also said that there are some bonds “ready to be cashed,” But Henao ran out of excuses. She is not replying the e-mails from QueensLatino.com.

“We want justice,” said Tania Alvarez, another investor who wants Patiño and Henao arrested.

“This is fraud and Liliana and Oswaldo took us as pigs. The government must do something and fast. These people are criminals and they want more time to hide themselves and the money they took from us,” said Carlos Londoño who wants his 50,000 dollars back. “”We are talking about a ponzi scheme of more than 10 million dollars. We are tired of waiting for our money.”

A group of investors from Inversionistas Unidos plans to demonstrate in front of the Richard Brown’s District Attorney Office for three days, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This office is located at 80-02 Key Garden Road, near the Queens criminal courts (Queens Boulevard).

On December 1^st, QueensLatino.com published the first article in Spanish about Inversionistas Unidos. It was published on the digital and print editions of the publication. You still can read it on this website.

Inversionistas Unidos started five years ago as a Partnership, but changed to a joint Venture to import and export vegetables and fruits from Latin America. Avocado and lemon from México. Sugar from Costa Rica. They also bought some properties in Colombia and Ecuador. In January of 2010 Inversionistas Unidos invested with Mario Cospin of San Francisco Bancor in Colombia and then lost 900,000 dollars. “The warehouse that they had in the South Bronx was just a front,” said Viker.

“They keep moving money through other company, Searching Capital Group that has Oswaldo Patiño as Director of International Affairs and COO. It is located in Rego Park, Queens, at the same address that Inversionistas Unidos has: 95-20 63^rd Road, second floor.

The majority of investors are from Ecuador. There are also Colombians, Peruvians, Salvadorians, Mexicans and Guatemalans. Some of them are undocumented and invested all their savings in Inversionistas Unidos.

Javier Castaño