Maximo Witte, a 47-year-old Argentine, was arrested in the United States, accused of committing multiple scamsmoney laundering and unauthorized financial intermediation, in what would have been a ponzi scheme that laundered more than 10 million dollars, according to Customs suspicions.
The investigation that ended in Witte’s arrest in California began from a complaint to Customs, which detected a possible Ponzi scheme operated by Witte. This type of pyramid scheme uses funds from new investors to pay profits to previous investors, generating false expectations of high returns.
Witte would have attracted his inner circle, including friends and family, with promises of interest rates much higher than those of the market through operations outside the banking system. It is estimated that there are more than 50 victims.
The scheme began in 2015 and continued until November 2022, when Witte fled the country. From that moment on, he began to accumulate debts. According to the Central Debtors of the Central Bank financial system, His condition is “unrecoverable”, with debts of almost 17 million pesos only with banks, without counting the money claimed by the alleged fraudsters.
It is believed that Witte would have appealed to the crypto market to launder assets for an estimated amount of USD 10 million, in order to erase its traceability and eliminate any link with its origin.
On the website there are various Instagram profiles and stories of victims who organized to tell their cases and ask Witte to return the money.
“Witte’s strategy of offering ‘fixed terms’ with attractive interest rates, between 3% and 4%, attracted numerous savers who trusted him. However, this scheme turned out to be unsustainable. Once a large capital had been accumulated , Witte simply appropriated the money received and could not continue paying the promised interest,” commented one of the victims.
The case is filed in the National Economic Criminal Court No. 2, headed by Dr. Pablo Yadarola; Secretariat No. 3, headed by Dr. Damián Mazzucco. There more than 50 victims testified before the court. Based on these testimonies, a red alert was issued to Interpol, which proceeded with the arrest.
Currently, Witte would be detained at the Desert View Correctional Facility in California, according to official information. He would have requested his deportation to Germany, given that he has a passport with that nationality. However, the Argentine justice system issued an appeal requesting the competent judge in the United States to extradite Witte, to subject him to Argentine jurisdiction for the facts investigated.
