The biggest Forex scam of Dubai allegedly carried out by the Exential Forex owned by the Goan origin businessman Sydney Lamos who also owns the FC Bardez football team in North Goa, has taken a new turn with the sealed office of the Forex Company found tempered with the lock broken. According to the sources, A lawyer representing scores of victims in the $300-million Exential forex scam fears vital evidence might have been tampered with after the seal and lock put on the company’s office by Dubai authorities were found broken. Around 7000 investors said to have duped by the company.
A $300 Million Exential Forex scam which came to the light in 2016 and the DED (Department of Economic Development) Dubai had ordered to cease its forex trading operations after complaints by Investors. According to the sources, the accused Sydney Lamos who also owns Goa’s FC Bardez had allegedly duped multiple investors in Dubai by offering the faulty investment schemes.
According to the sources, after matter coming into the light, Exential’s head office in Arenco Tower in Dubai Media City was sealed and locked by the Department of Economic Department (DED) in Dubai and the company was ordered to cease trading on July 18, 2016. However, Hany Elsaid of Abdul Rahman Naseeb Associates and Legal Consultants said when he visited the Exential office on January 30 with a DED official to execute a court order to freeze the company’s assets, they found that both the seal and lock on the front door were broken. “I was shocked beyond disbelief. The door was open and the broken lock was lying on the floor. We first visited the place on September,” recalled Hany Elsaid adding that “I wasn’t prepared for anything like this. So we immediately called the police. They arrived with a forensic team within minutes and took fingerprints. The matter is now being investigated by Al Barsha police.”
The sources said that Media tried to contact Al Barsha police for their comments but it was not available. The investigations have revealed that the CCTV footage gathered with the help of cameras installed in the building shows that the break-in happened in the month of December and it shows the wife of accused Valany Cardozo Lemos entering the premises illegally with other staff members. “I have handed the footage to the police. It shows Valany Cardozo Lemos, the wife of the owner of Exential entering the premises illegally with other staff members. This is very serious as we fear they might have removed incriminating evidence from the sealed office,” said the lawyer.
The police sources have informed that the wife of accused Valany Lemos managed to escape to India on January 3rd and the possibility of her coming back is nil. Documents in possession of Gulf News conclusively prove that she owned FC Prime Markets, a forex brokerage company based in Australia when the scam happened. FC Prime Markets was one of the financial brokers used by Exential to send the money of UAE investors abroad. “The evidence is mounting against her,” said another lawyer representing around 50 victims, mostly from aviation and oil and gas sectors.
The sources have also revealed that Valany Lemos’ husband and Exential owner Sydney Lemos, 36, who peddled a Ponzi scheme in the guise of a legitimate foreign currency trading opportunity between 2011 and 2016 is already in police custody. Sydney Lemos was first arrested in late December but was released on bail only to be taken into custody a second time in mid-January. His Exential group promised annual returns of 120 per cent on a minimum investment of $25,000. Enticed by the incredible returns, nearly 7,000 UAE residents fell for the scheme only to lose their hard-earned money in a web of deceit. “It’s a very complicated case. Shortly, we will be collaborating with authorities in foreign countries to retrieve the money of investors,” said Hany Elsaid.
It may be recalled that a Dubai court has ordered Exential chief Sydney Lemos and his companies to pay back a group of investors who lost their hard-earned money in a Dh1.1 billion Ponzi scheme disguised as a foreign currency trading programme. The verdicts come as a ray of hope for nearly 7,000 UAE-based Exential clients who had been left devastated having forked out a minimum of $25,000 (Dh91,500) to open a forex account with the firm’s Dubai Media City office after being promised annual returns of up to 120 percent. (source)
