Banks Should Have Googled Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, Attorney Tells Bloomberg Business
The lede in a story this morning by Neil Weinberg of Bloomberg Business:
“The U.S. requires banks to know their customers. Looks like several big ones, including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., may have missed getting acquainted with Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.”
Here’s a link to the story, titled “Ponzi Suspect’s 17 Accounts Raise Questions Over Bank Safeguards.”
The PP Blog first wrote about Filho in May 2010 in the context of the deeply disturbing Evolution Market Group/ FinanzasForex scheme. Money was linked to the narcotics trade.
As we reported more than five years ago (italics added):
Research by the PP Blog suggests the purported investment program was so sordid that promoters even claimed some of the funds were being used for the “humanitarian” purpose of assisting kidnapping victims in Colombia. In a sickening display of marketing theatrics, a claim was made that investors could “adopt” kidnapping victims for a payment of $1,000 and that the company would set aside $500 in corporate funds for each victim so that their families could have bright futures if the victims ultimately were released by their captors.
The HYIP scheme allegedly was associated with an entity known as Evolution Market Group (EMG), which purportedly had a Forex component known as FinanzasForex. Investigators alleged in January that there were schemes within schemes in a tangled web of domestic and international deception that featured dozens of bank accounts, shell companies and various fronts for money-laundering enterprises, including companies purportedly in businesses such as real estate and car washes.
The scheme was so corrupt, according to court filings, that some investors were told that, in order to leave the program whole, they had to recruit new investors, have the new investors pay them directly — and use the proceeds from the new investors to “recover” their initial outlays.
“If the banks had just Googled this guy, they would have known enough to stay away,” Evans Carter, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based attorney, told Bloomberg.
Filho’s name later would surface in the preposterous DFRF Enterprises’ scheme that has led to civil and criminal charges against him. The SEC has linked Filho to TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues. Those ties may prove to be more troubling as the litigation winds its way through the courts.
See BehindMLM.com story dated today: “Sann Rodrigues laundered assets through DFRF Enterprises.”
Filho has chosen to stay in jail, via his consent to voluntary detention. He’s been in custody since July.
An order entered today by Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Boal of the District of Massachusetts (formatting not precise):
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
Criminal No. 15-10214-NMG
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
DANIEL FERNANDES ROJO FILHO
ORDER OF VOLUNTARY DETENTION
October 9, 2015
Boal, M.J.
The defendant is charged with wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. An initial appearance was held in this district on September 3, 2015, at which time the government moved for detention. An initial status conference and detention hearing was held on October 8, 2015, after a request for continuance was filed by defendant’s counsel and granted by the Court on September 23, 2015. At the initial status conference on October 8, 2015, the defendant, represented by counsel, elected to voluntarily consent to detention without prejudice.
Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the defendant be DETAINED pending trial, and is further ORDERED that:
(1) the defendant be committed to the custody of the Attorney General for confinement in a corrections facility separate, to the extent practicable, from persons awaiting or serving sentences or being held in custody pending appeal;
(2) the defendant be afforded reasonable opportunity for private consultation with counsel; and
(3) on order of a court of the United States or on request of an attorney for the government, the person in charge of the corrections facility in which the defendant is detained and confined deliver the defendant to an authorized Deputy United States Marshal for the purpose of any appearance in connection with a court proceeding.
This order is without prejudice to the defendant filing a motion to consider the issue of pre-trial detention, regardless of whether there have been changed circumstances. The defendant may seek review of this order by filing a motion for revocation or amendment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3145(b).
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Props to ASD Updates: http://asdupdates.com/wordpress/archives/6732
From a docket entry yesterday:
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ELECTRONIC Clerk’s Notes for proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Boal: Detention Hearing and Initial Status Conference as to Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho held on 10/8/2015. Defense counsel informs the Court that the defendant waives his rights to a detention hearing at this time and consents to a voluntary detention without prejudice. The Court conducted a colloquy with the defendant. The Court reviewed the status of the case with the parties. The parties reported that they are proceeding with discovery and requested one further date. The parties will file an assented to motion to exclude the time. The defendant was remanded to the custody of the USMS. The parties shall file a status report due by 11/3/2015. The Interim Status Conference is set for 11/10/2015 at 11:00 a.m. in Courtroom 14 before Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Boal. Defense counsel may appear by telephone for this hearing. Should counsel decide to appear by phone, he is directed to contact the courtroom deputy . . .
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Patrick