Ponzi scheme in trading: boss sentenced. Compensation at risk: savers on the warpath
Two years imprisonment for the company director who guaranteed profits of up to 18%
by Lorenzo Pace
They sold houses, took out family loans and even postponed their elderly parents' medical expenses. All, because 'an always well-dressed man with a luxury car', Marco Licani, had guaranteed them financial returns of up to 18% per year on their investments. Despite the fact that, as ascertained by the Bank of Italy, he was not registered as an advisor. That is why the Court of Milan sentenced him to two years and a fine of four thousand euro for financial abuse.
The Ponzi scheme
It is the story of a Ponzi scheme that began several years ago, before 2018, the year in which the Consob petition arrived and the trial began. The procedure, explained in the papers of the investigation by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, was simple: intermediaries (they, yes, registered) would have convinced ordinary people to invest thousands of euro in the platform 'Pft Professional Financial Traders Italia', of which Licani is a partner and sole director. Investments would also be induced in other related companies.
The figures
The first transactions, according to the investigation, were used to gain trust. Almost half of the customers, in fact, ended their experience by receiving more than they paid in. Small sums, in a few cases over EUR 10,000. In this way, other investors were attracted. Who lost much larger sums, up to 130,000 euro.
It is all traced within the chapter 'victim clients'. An in-depth list in which bank movements between some forty persons and those close to the 'Pft' appear. Half, as mentioned, lost significant sums. Read the totals: one million collected by the company, around 650,000 returned. The difference leads to an "unfair profit totalling EUR 346,439.18 with related financial loss for the victims".
Just before this sentence, however, we read an important detail: 'They abusively carried out savings collection among the public [...] alluding to returns of up to 18 per cent per annum and actually handed over corresponding sums to customers for the first months of the contract, only to thendirect the money abroad or use it for selfish purposes'.
