Three expatriates sentenced to jail for running a fraudulent investment and cryptocurrency scheme have lost their appeal in court.
The two Ukrainians and a Moroccan were found guilty of scamming 12 people out of more than BD444,000.
They ran advertisements on social media, offering attractive investments in gold, petrol and digital currencies, and tricked their victims into handing over huge amounts of cash.
In August, the High Criminal Court sentenced the Ukrainian man and woman in absentia to nine years in prison each, while the Moroccan cook was sentenced to five years in prison.
They took to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court which, however, upheld all the penalties, with fines and confiscations amounting to nearly BD1,300,000.
In the original trial, the Ukrainian pair were fined BD100,000 each, and the court ruled to confiscate BD444,291 from their personal assets, but they fled the country before they could be arrested.
The Moroccan was fined BD100,000, and the court ordered the confiscation of BD83,711 from him. Judges also ruled to deport him after completing his sentence.
A fourth defendant in the case was a marketing and management company which the appellants used as a front to launder their ill-begotten funds and which was tried as an ‘artificial person’.
The company was fined BD1,000, and the court also ordered the confiscation of BD444,291 of the business’ holdings.
The GDN earlier reported that the European duo, a 47-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman, smooth-talked their 12 victims to hand over their life’s savings by promising high returns in a short time.
Only later did the victims realise that their hard-earned money had disappeared into thin air, and reported the Ukrainians to authorities.
The two suspects reportedly started the business to use its bank accounts to launder the money and lend legitimacy to their scheme, eventually recruiting the Moroccan man into their racket.
A police investigator stated that the Ukrainians used the Arab’s personal bank accounts to receive money from the victims, without it being traced directly to them, then wired the funds to countries like Spain, Poland and the UAE.
The 51-year-old Moroccan handled a total of BD83,711 on their behalf, while his Ukrainian accomplices received BD444,291 from the unsuspecting victims.
Only the Arab suspect appeared before judges and denied allegations of money laundering, claiming that he himself was tricked into assisting the Europeans in the scam.
An investigation revealed that the company involved in the scam had ‘no Central Bank of Bahrain licence to buy and trade in shares or digital currency’.
They reportedly carried out the fraud by giving small returns to the victims. According to a scammed Bahraini businessman, the individuals behind the scheme told him that they were operating from Cyprus.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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