![]() Have you heard of JuicyFields? It was a firm that was to connect online investors from around the world with cannabis farms, so everyone could partake in investing in the exciting new field. But now, there is a lot of trouble brewing, and some have reported that it’s looking more like it may actually be one of the biggest Ponzi schemes out there. JuicyFields began online in 2020, and was originally based in Germany, although they moved to the Netherlands earlier this year. They described themselves as a “cannabis crowd-growing platform,” and made it possible for investors from all around the world, who they would call, “E-Growers,” to be a part of the burgeoning new industry. Investors could take part with as little as about $50, and up to as much as $185,000. They encouraged people to invest their savings with them with the insinuation that they would be getting rich off the new industry, and estimated returns of well over 100% on investments within a year. As of the last count, there were up to 500,000 investors, and Spanish law firm Martinez-Bianco estimated that more than $5.1 billion has been invested with JuicyFields’. For a while, it seemed to work. Investors could watch their cannabis investments grow online, and some elated customers reported receiving payouts. But there now are serious signs of big trouble with JuicyFields. A Spanish financial regulator issued an warning about them earlier this year. Then a German regulator, Bafin, was the first to point out inconsistencies with the company, in March of this year. A few months later, in June, they banned Juicyfields from selling any more cannabis investments on its platform in Germany, which they did not comply with. As of July 11th, investors with the group have reported that they have been completely unable to access their accounts. Also right around this same time, employees of JuicyFields announced a strike due to unpaid salaries. And adding more alarm to the situation, JuiceFields corporate representatives have now become completely unreachable, their YouTube content has disappeared, and the company’s social media is all now no longer accessible. In hindsight, it does seem that some elements of it being a Ponzi scheme are there. Participants were promised amazing returns, they were encouraged to sign up other investors by being offered bonuses, initial returns showed incredible results, and then …. they all just disappeared, and took the money with them. Alan Glanse is the former CEO of JuicyFields, who resigned in January. He claims to have no responsibility for the alleged scam, and says he is in the same situation as the others affected, and that he is “in shock about everything that has happened.” Ganse says that the real people responsible for what happened are Paul Bergolts, Alex Vaimer and Vasily Kandinski. That matches with information in leaked documents allegedly from subsidiaries of JuicyFields, which says the three men hold Russian passports and did have effective control of company. The Spanish publication, El País Financiero, also found these three men were behind JuicyFields. Ganse said, “I’ve only met them five times. They hired me, and that’s it.” And rather than dissapearing himself, Ganse has spoken personally with some affected investors, multiple communities of victims, and the press. Currently, the Berlin public prosecutor's office is investigating the company and it’s managing director. According to Finanztest, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has so far set a penalty payment of €1 million against them. Comments are closed.
|
Proudly powered by Weebly