OTHER PHILIPPINE NEWSPAPERS NEWS

Filipina in multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme arrested in New Jersey

Published: February 5, 2010 | Author: Lenn Almadin-Thornhill

FORTY-ONE-year-old Razel Canedo, was indicted and charged on February 1 with one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud for allegedly running a million-dollar Ponzi scheme that targeted Filipinos in New York City.

Canedo -- also known as Razel Torres or Razel Agravante -- was arrested last afternoon of January 29 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

According to the indictment filed in Manhattan federal court by the United States Attorney office of the Southern District of New York, Canedo ran the scheme from January 2003 to July 2008. Canedo allegedly solicited investments from fellow Filipinos by representing that the funds would be invested in one of two companies that she owned -- Lady of Lourdes and K&K Nannies.

Canedo allegedly told investors they would earn a return on their investment of anywhere from 3 percent per month to 50 percent per year, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Canedo convinced the victims that the money would be “used to pay for training, immigration expenses, and placement services for nurses from the Philippines who wanted to work in the United States” if they invested in Lady of Lourdes, or would be used to pay for similar services for aspiring nannies if they invested in K&K Nannies.

In addition, according to the indictment, Canedo also led her investors to believe that they could withdraw their principal at any time with no losses.

In order to further convince the investors of the scheme, Canedo allegedly presented checks and promissory notes which she claimed could be cashed at any time to recoup their original investment.

But when the investors attempted to cash the checks, they bounced. And when questioned by those investors, the U.S. attorney said, “Canedo assured them that they would be paid, gave them various excuses for why the checks had bounced, and sometimes instructed them to cash the checks at a later date.”

The alleged Ponzi scheme did not end there. To further induce the investors, Canedo, according to the indictment, initially made a small number of payments which she said were the interest or investment income. But it was actually money from other alleged victims.