Several hundred French people, mainly located on the Côte d’Azur, would have been cheated in this affair. While they thought they were investing in the thousands of houses abandoned after the subprime crisis in Detroit (United States), these individuals would in fact have unknowingly fueled a vast scam. Based on the principle of the Ponzi scheme: a victim believes they are buying a property and they receive rents which are in fact financed by recruiting a second buyer. In total, between 40 and 50 million euros could thus have been diverted before the collapse of the system, at the end of 2019. Seized then by several complainants, the Grasse prosecutor’s office, which opened a preliminary investigation for “fraud” and “abuse of confidence”, finally withdrew. For a year and a half, it has been the sleuths of the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Marseille who have been in charge. And things have been able to accelerate in recent months.
The stakeholders, who pass the buck, are in the sights of justice. The broker who offered the (false) goods for sale, a French expatriate in the United States, is the subject of an international arrest warrant. And three other people, the managers of the Côte d’Azur company Antom Patrimoine, which would have acted as an intermediary by proposing these investments, were indicted for “organized gang scam” in particular. The president of the company in question was even remanded in custody, learned 20 minutes from consistent sources. Contacted, his lawyer Me Christophe Rosa did not wish to comment. “There is an ongoing criminal investigation. So there will be no reaction for the moment.
“Some say we will never see our money again”
Very good news for complainants, more than three years after the launch of the first investigation. “The victims of this international scam experience the considerable evolution of this procedure with immense relief, most of them having lost the fruit of a lifetime of work, reacted to 20 minutes Me Xavier Nogueras, who represents several of these injured individuals. We hope that the investigation will succeed in establishing the criminal responsibilities of the many people who contributed to the ruin of our clients. »
Only a trial and convictions could allow them to recover the sums invested. Or at least part of it, through the Crime Victims Recovery Assistance Service (Sarvi) of the Victims Guarantee Fund. “With my partner, we had invested 60,000 euros each. In the hope of being able to constitute us a contribution for the purchase of a house. Today, our project is no longer possible”, confides Guillaume Flachon-Fouga, 43, who founded the Association of victims (ADV) Detroit real estate ([email protected]) and calls on them to manifest.
“It is important that they approach us, he supports. Currently, there are only about sixty complaints whereas there would be up to 400 people concerned. Some say we’ll never get our money back. That must be dropped. I believe in it and it is together that we will be stronger. »
The investment looked risk free
This Cannes resident and his wife would have been among the last to be “recruited” into this infernal mechanism, before the Riviera company, increasingly suspected of embezzlement, went into compulsory liquidation. “I got to know her through a friend who had already made investments through other operations she offered. In November or maybe December 2019, I took part in a meeting that Antom Patrimoine organized with great fanfare in a Resort in Sophia-Antipolis. Everything looked square,” he says.
On the spot, the investment looks attractive. Without risk. “We were offered to buy houses that would be rehabilitated and then rented out. It went through the creation of an American company, an LLC [Limited liability company], explains Guillaume Flachon-Fouga. And, above all, we were strongly encouraged to pay using a seller’s credit. Which allows you to stagger the payments. And which was to be used to feed the system, by paying the rents promised to previous buyers.
“This is a veritable Ponzi scheme with procedural, technical and complex aspects. But the French magistrates who have taken the measure of the extent of the situation, are working hard to bring justice,” rejoices Mr. Xavier Nogueras. The investigation is continuing.