ACAMS Greater Twin Cities Chapter November Virtual Event: You’ve Got Mail Fraud: ACAMS Virtual Event Part 2

(Case Description) For more than five years, from 2010 through the end of 2016, defendants Antonio Carlos De Godoy Buzaneli and Jose Manuel Ordoñez, Jr. raised approximately $150 million from investors worldwide, including more than $64 million from investors in the United States, many of whom were elderly, through a company called Providence Financial Investments Inc.  Buzaneli and Ordoñez promised investors that they could earn high returns by investing in the purchase of accounts receivable from Brazilian companies at a discount.  In reality, Buzaneli and Ordoñez used the investors’ money to fund lavish world travel for themselves, to operate a host of other businesses that they controlled, to re-pay other investors, and to pay commissions to their nationwide network of brokers.  Providence investors worldwide – including more than 500 victims in the United States alone – lost a total of more than $100 million as a result of the fraud.  Buzaneli deployed a network of brokers to recruit investors for Providence, often at purported Social Security Seminars.  Many of the victims were either retired or nearing retirement age and invested a large portion of their retirement income in Providence.