Miami-area exec admits guilt in scheme that fleeced $115 million from investors
A Key Biscayne executive who founded a financial services company that catered to international investors has admitted to being part of a scheme to fleece his own clients out of at least $115 million, authorities say.
Roberto Gustavo Cortes Ripalda, 56, former CEO of Biscayne Capital, collaborated with other employees in lying to clients about how it used their investment funds between 2013 and 2018, according to federal prosecutors.
Cortes pleaded guilty Wednesday to a count of conspiring to commit wire fraud and agreed to a $3.4 million forfeiture judgment in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, where the case was prosecuted. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing set for Jan. 12, 2024.
According to the indictment, the investment scheme collapsed in September 2018 and Biscayne Capital went into liquidation.
Prosecutors said Cortes and his co-conspirators, including five defendants from South Florida and foreign countries who previously pleaded guilty, told clients that their investments would finance the development of real estate projects. In fact, Cortes and the others used the money to pay other Biscayne Capital clients, cover firm expenses, and pay themselves millions of dollars, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.
“Cortes and his co-conspirators also invested clients’ money without their knowledge, and then attempted to cover their tracks by providing investors with fraudulent account statements,” the Justice Department said in a news release.
The other co-conspirators who previously pleaded guilty are: Ernesto Heraclito Weisson Pazmino, 55, of Miami; Gustavo Trujillo, 43, of Miami; Juan Carlos Cortes, 45, of Boca Raton; Fernando Haberer Bergson, 50, of Argentina; and Fernando Martinez Gomez, 45, of Ecuador.
