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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
While Luis Ángel Milanes, the casino operator and fraud suspect,
was a fugitive he appears to have been able to enter and leave Costa
Rica at will.
A document from the court file has surfaced that Milanes signed in
front of his then-lawyer in Paso Canoas in southern Costa Rica April
22, 2008. Milanes was on his way to surrender two months later when he
was detained in El Salvador.
In the document, Milanes appoints Álvaro Jiménez
Acuña as his legal representative and begins the effort to
return to Costa Rica. The document is addressed to the economics crimes
prosecutor. The letter appears to be the initial step in his eventual
negotiation of a special deal from Francisco Dall'Anese, the chief
prosecutor.
In the document Milanes attempts to absolve all his business associates
from complicity in the case. He also said that he is the only one
responsible for the the criminal case surrounding his former company,
Savings Unlimited. He said that if anyone is responsible for whatever
irregular situation in the management of Savings Unlimited funds, it is
he.
That statement is in contradiction with what Milanes says now.
Milanes has claimed that a former associate, Costa Rican lawyer
José Adolfo Somarribas Arias, now fighting extradition in
Europe, has access to the bulk of the money.
Milanes has said that he does not have any more money to pay his
creditors fully. An estimated $200 million was believed invested with
Savings Unlimited when Milanes left Nov. 25, 2002. Creditors of record
in the court case account for about $40 million.
In the April 22, 2008, court document Milanes seeks to establish the
amount of money his creditors in the case originally invested. He said
that he does not want to pay back interest to the creditors who lost
money with his firm, in part because the interest rate was very high.
Savings Unlimited was one of those handful of firms that paid monthly
interest in excess of 3 percent. In his letter to the prosecutor
Milanes did not hint at what kind of business he conducted that could
generate such profits. But he did say that since the time he shut the
business down
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Who? ME?
This is José Adolfo
Somarribas Arias, the man Milanes says has the bulk
of the money
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INTERPOL photo
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Nov. 25, 2002, there should be no expectation by creditors of interest
to accrue.
A similar high-interest operation by the brothers Luis Enrique and
Oswaldo Villalobos Camacho was declared a ponzi scheme by a trial court.
Milanes is facing fraud charges, but the letter to prosecutors makes
clear that even before he surrendered he was trying to reduce his
financial exposure to investor creditors so he could arrive at some
kind of financial agreement that would keep him out of jail.
A Milanes associate is suggesting a deal whereby those creditors who
have filed in the criminal case would get about 25 percent of their
money. Some say they will accept no deal and want to see the casino
owner in jail.
Curiously, there is no mention of his thriving casino business in the
letter to prosecutors or the current negotiations. Milanes is offering
some land in Santa Ana and the Europa Hotel in San Jose's downtown. He
said the package is worth more than $13 million. Others disagree. Most
of the casinos operated by Milanes are in leased facilities, but there
appears to be a substantial cash flow. The Europa has a casino.
What seems to irk investors the most is that Milanes spent little time
in prison. He was jailed briefly when he returned from El Salvador.
Since then he has been a regular at his casinos and other nightspots in
Costa Rica.
Milanes is a Cuban-American. There is no indication if he is current
with his U.S. income tax or if the Internal Revenue Service will put
more obstacles in the way of creditors recovering their money.
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