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Five investors met with the prosecutor investigating Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho Thursday and came away with some good news and some bad news. A spokesman said the good news is that the prosecutor said that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is not interested in the case and that the investigation has not developed a solid case against the San José businessman. The bad news is that the prosecutor said that investigators cannot locate much of the money loaned to Villalobos and that an estimated 405 investors are pursuing fraud cases against the man. J. Duke Moseley was one of five investors designed to meet with Walter Espinoza Espinoza at the Tribunales de Justicia in San José Thursday afternoon. Some 15 investors showed up for the scheduled meeting, but only a handful were allowed to talk with Espinoza. All are members of United Concerned Citizens, Residents & Friends of Costa Rica, a group that formed after Villalobos said that he was closing his investment office Oct. 14 and was not going to continue to pay the interest owed to his investors. Perhaps the biggest revelation from Moseley was that Espinoza said that he offered Villalobos a deal at an early stage of the investigation: all charges would be dropped if Villalobos came up with a solid plan to repay the money owed to his investors. Villalobos and his lawyers did not respond to the offer, Moseley said he was told. The meeting was not described as hostile, although Moseley said he felt Espinoza was trying to pump the five for information as much as the five were pumping him. At one point, one of the investors, a Costa Rican woman, fell to her knees crying, he said. Here were some of the other developments he reported: • Espinoza appeared unhappy with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service because it did not respond to a request to freeze funds associated with Villalobos and deposited in the United States. Now that money, some $8 million, has vanished from the bank accounts. • Villalobos, the individual, has little assets, just about $5,000 deposited in a Banco Nacional account. He has little other assets and does not own stock in any of the companies associated with him and neither does his family. • Investigators are unable to find any clear evidence of money laundering or other types of drug-related crimes. • The prosecutor is pressing a case of illegal |
banking and of fraud, based on the
belief that the investors’ money has been put in hiding.
• The prosecutor believes that Villalobos had about $600 million in investor money, most of which cannot now be located. • Espinoza will not single out individual investors for prosecution, perhaps on tax charges, because he cannot discriminate under the law. And officials do not have the resources to bring charges against all who may have violated Costa Rica tax laws. • During the two-year investigation of Villalobos, undercover agents were sent to his place of business at Mall San Pedro in an effort to deposit money with him. In each case, Villalobos refused the deposits because the individuals did not have a reference from another investor, something the businessman required. • The prosecutor thinks that the investors have been scammed out of their money. • Major financial centers of Liechtenstein, Spain, France, Panamá, the Caribbean and the United States have been searched without locating the bulk of the Villalobos money. And there is no paper trail. • The investigation soon will come under the direction of the Superintendencía General de Entidades Financieras. • The largest known depositor with Villalobos gave him $6 million. • No matter what happens, Costa Rica will not profit by a single cent. Moseley said that he came away from the meeting with the impression that Espinoza was trying to do his job, perhaps with few resources. The man has just two auditors to look into the Villalobos books. Nearly everyone associated with the case believes that a freeze of the
Villalobos bank accounts here in Costa Rica will be continued beyond the
Nov. 26 date.
Meeting put off Meanwhile, the United Concerned Citizens has put off a meeting scheduled for Sunday where investors could discuss the case. A member of the board said the meeting was put off because there was not enough new material to discuss. Costa Rican officials have been investigating Villalobos and his brother Osvaldo for some time, but a Canadian case helped them decide to raid the operation and several homes July 4. Canadian police officials said that some $380,000 had been deposited by a Canadian drug figure into the Villalobos operation. |
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| I have been having problems with
my computer. I started getting these messages that my online program was
95 percent filled. That quickly moved to 99 percent before I could figure
out what this all meant.
I had a mental image of my little computer getting red and swelling up like those people in the commercials for anti-gas pills. I knew I had to do something. I erased everything in sight, and nothing changed. Then a friend explained I had to empty my wastebasket. The upshot was I lost all my mail, and I have not been able to respond to some readers. So, if the person who asked about an assisted living facility would write me again, I will give him what information I have. And if the person who sent the article about the new anti-Semitism would resend it (but not as an attachment which I seem unable to either save or open), I will read it. And if anyone else has not heard from me and expected to, please write again. Now that I have taken care of admitting my ignorance, I will proceed. I once worked for a company whose advertising manager would invent a word and use it, then watch (or better, listen) as the word was picked up by others. He told me it was a way of judging his influence over people. President Bush has shown his influence by the number of people who are now using the word "terror" instead of the more appropriate word, "terrorism." I’ve been told he had trouble pronouncing "terrorism." Maybe he did it on purpose so that he can wage a war against everything that scares us, even the bogeyman in the closet. Now I am waiting for his entire administration to start pronouncing "nuclear" as "nucular," which he seems to prefer. There are other words that, although not invented, get used and picked up until they become meaningless. Like what, you ask? Well, let’s take "appreciate," another Bushism. He appreciates everybody for everything for showing up or doing anything. It’s as if his Mother never taught him to say a simple "Thank you." Another word is "absolutely." Bush didn’t start this, but now everybody on TV when |
asked a question, doesn’t say, simply, "Yes." Or even "right," or "I’d be happy to." They respond with "Absolutely!" Like "Will you show us how this works?" "Absolutely," responds the guest. This positive extreme is wearing me out. Then there are two overused phrases that seem to have emerged since 9-11. One is "twenty-four seven." I had to think about that the first time I heard it. Ah, yes, the firemen were working 24-7 to clean up the terrible mess on 9-11. Some company is working 24-7 to improve its product. The government, of course, is doing everything 24-7. To my mind, the only thing we do twenty-four hours a day seven days a week is stay alive. At first it was impressive as an exaggerated expression for emphasis. Now it is as commonplace as "forty hours a week." And finally we have the phrase "My good friend." This is used mostly by politicians as they refer to another politician (usually of a different party) with whom they are about to disagree. Come on, guys, a friend is somebody special, a good friend even more so, and you are insulting those words. Nobody believes you. It does remind me of the phrase "my great and good friend" that Frank Sinatra use to use as a euphemism for the lady he was currently sleeping with. For some reason I like that one, maybe because nothing better has come along. Remember the movie "Mary Poppins" and "Supercalifrajalisticexpialidocious?" That was not in the book, I am sure, because if it were I would have used it every chance I got. I was kind of an obnoxious know-it-all kid. Anyway, we have a great substitute for that word. If someone asks you how things are, answer simply, "Pura vida!" It says it all. More Jo Stuart
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How to live, invest or find romance in Costa Rica 
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