Russian citizen Sergey Berezin, who hid in the Dominican Republic under the false identity of Paul Bergholtz, will be extradited to Spain accused of leading the Juicy Fields cannabis pyramid scheme. This was decreed on Tuesday by the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Dominican Republic, in a ruling to which this newspaper has had access.
The Juicy Fields fraud was uncovered by elDiario.es in a report in May 2022 and two months later its managers disappeared, taking all the money with them. The company promised high returns (up to 160%) for investing in supposed medicinal cannabis plantations that later turned out not to exist.
According to the National Court, which has been investigating the case since autumn 2022, the investors’ money was used to make partial payments to the victims themselves, following a pyramid scheme, as well as to the marketing apparatus and attracting new clients of the scam. Most of the capital, however, then disappeared into a complex network of companies and bank accounts.
Europol estimates that some 186,000 investors lost their money and the amount defrauded amounts to 645 million euros, although the agency itself admits that it could be much higher because not all those defrauded have filed complaints.
Berezin was arrested in the Dominican Republic on April 11, as part of a large international operation involving more than 400 agents from 11 different countries. Agents from the National Police’s UDEF and Europol traveled to the Caribbean country to participate in the arrest, which took place in a tourist complex in the town of Bayahíbe, in the east of the country.
Upon his arrest, Berezin was seized with several magazines for 9mm pistols, tens of thousands of euros in cash in different currencies and cryptocurrencies, as well as multiple passports with different identities, including that of Paul Bergholtz.
The accused has remained in provisional custody since then and is expected to be transferred to Spain in the coming weeks. He is accused of fraud, aggravated fraud, money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation, crimes for which he could be sentenced to more than 24 years in prison.
Since his arrest, Berezin’s defense has tried in every way to prevent his extradition to Spain. His lawyers alleged procedural defects in the extradition request, Berezin insisted on his innocence, cited health reasons and even offered to collaborate with the Dominican justice system to reduce his sentence or avoid being tried in Spain.
In its extradition request, the 6th investigating court of the National Court based its request on the statement to the Berlin police of a repentant person who was part of the network and pointed to Berezin as the main leader of the fraud.
Statements were also submitted by other defendants and former Juicy Fields employees, who claimed to have been hired by Paul Bergholtz, one of the false identities of this Russian citizen.
Investments in Tenerife
According to an investigation by elDiario.es, both Berezin and another partner in the network lived in Tenerife during the months before and after the collapse of the pyramid scheme. Some investigators even suspect that the leaders of the scam met in the municipality of Adeje shortly after committing the crime.
With money to spend and large amounts of cash, the two partners invested in various cannabis clubs on the island, according to various sources, and started a real estate business buying and selling luxury villas that could be paid for with cryptocurrency.
Berezin used his then-partner as a front for the real estate companies, according to the commercial register, to avoid being identified by the authorities. When the National Court and other European courts began to make progress in the investigation, Berezin fled to the Dominican Republic, where he tried to hide as just another tourist.
Links to the Russian mafia
The repentant who testified before the Berlin police provided several clues about Berezin’s links with the Russian mafia. In his statement, he even claimed that he was ordered to kill one of the members of the fraudsters’ group because of the risk that he would collaborate with the German police (he ultimately refused to commit the crime).
A few months after beginning to collaborate with the authorities, this repentant Juicy Fields member was assassinated by an attempt to place a bomb in his car, which was reduced to ashes.
Investigators were also able to determine that Sergey Berezin or Paul Bergholtz are not the only identities that the alleged leader of Juicy Fields has used over the past few years. In the past, he has presented himself as Mark Konwal and allegedly led another very similar online scam.
The company was called Reciclyx, it was created at the end of 2015 and offered online investors the opportunity to buy plastic waste that the company would then transform into recycled granules and report a 40% return within a few months.
In 2017, the Reciclyx owners disappeared with all the money, claiming that the factory had been destroyed by fire. As with Juicy Fields, the website was kept open after the robbery and investors were assured that they would be able to recover their money. This never happened.
Source: www.eldiario.es
