Nine charged in brokerage loan scam

NINE PEOPLE  alleged to  have been involved  in the transfer of a $9 million loan to a failing  brokerage with links to then president Ricardo Martinelli  are now under investigation by  the Seventh Anti-Corruption Prosecutor

The loan was awarded by the Caja de Ahorros (CA) to  HPC-Contratas-P & V  and ended up in the former Financial  Pacific (FP) brokerage.

The defendants are the ex-employees of FP Mariel Rodríguez (compliance officer); Ori Zebedes (shareholder, director, and treasurer); And the out workers Carlos Osorio, Baleysi Pineda and Joshua Absalón Chávez.

Prosecutor, Leyda Sáenz, also laid charges for alleged money laundering offenses against the ex-directors of FP Iván Clare and West Valdés.

In addition, prosecutor Sáenz charged the brothers  José and Felipe Pipo Virzi.

The first people questioned were José Virzi and Carlos Osorio,  on  August.16.

Jose Virzi, the elder brother of Pipo was not given any precautionary measure, but  Osorio and Pipo Virzi and are in preventive detention.