Costa Rica projects to close the year with 80,000 criminal complaints, a lower number than that registered in 2019, which accounted for more than 100,000.
According to an official complaint filed March 8, an Israeli investor says Thomas Reeves took $25,000 from him after falsifying licenses and documents.
On Monday, Costa Rican prosecutors announced they are launching an investigation of real estate group Homes Grupo Inmobilario for various developments in the Central Valley.
More than 13 years after the sudden shuttering of "investment" company Savings Unlimited, which left hundreds of clients in the dark, a Costa Rica court has convicted owner Luis Milanés, known as "The Cuban," to 15 years in prison on charges of aggregated fraud.
SAN SEBASTIÁN, San José – Special agents and prosecutors in San José attacked a large organized crime network dedicated to credit card and check fraud, among other crimes, on Wednesday morning, arresting a total of 22 suspects in 24 separate raids throughout the Central Valley.
"Advisers at these Citigroup affiliates were supposed to be looking out for investors' best interests, but falsely assured them they were making safe investments even when the funds were on the brink of disaster," said Andrew Ceresney, director for the SEC's enforcement division.
Call centers are one of the fastest growing sectors of the Costa Rican economy, but this boom industry has a dark side. Costa Rica was home to a massive telemarketing scam that defrauded thousands of U.S. citizens — most over the age of 55 — of upwards of $20 million. Prosecutors in the Western District of North Carolina have convicted 46 defendants from the United States related to the sweepstakes fraud to date.
A dual citizen of the United States and Costa Rica pleaded guilty Monday to a $1.88 million sweepstakes fraud scheme that targeted elderly U.S. residents, according a statement from the U.S. Justice Department.
Arnoldo Alpízar, a communications official with the Red Cross, confirmed to TV's Channel 7 that the Italian man died at approximately 7:30 a.m. at his home in Escazú, southwest of San José, where the Red Cross arrived following an emergency call.
