At the end of November 2020, the scam was already latent. But anything could be said about Bogotá businessman Felipe Rocha except that he was a newcomer to the world of ranching. He grew up on pastures and farms belonging to a clan of bullfighting farmers who, in the early 1940’s, founded the prestigious Achury Viejo, one of the most emblematic irons in the history of Colombian fairs. Because of this, he knew that breeding and fattening animals in the country was good business. Furthermore, if he were able to link it to a fundraising pyramid scheme, he could ensure a high and safe return on the deposits of his investors, thereby increasing his wealth. However, things ended badly and the young heir was cornered by his closest circle of friends and embroiled in a conspiracy that collected around 70,000 million pesos with interest.
The case that erupted in March is still open and prosecutors this week summoned the 45-year-old farmer for questioning on July 10. The agency has acted following media attorney Jaime Lombana’s lawsuit over alleged offenses of aggravated fraud and illicit enrichment of individuals. An additional mess for the defense attorneys, who have already proposed partial agreements to financially compensate some of the 85 defrauded investors. According to lawyer Fabio Humar, it is clear for the time being that the land and buildings proposed as part of the redress will not be sufficient to do justice.
Humar himself, who claims to have met 35 of the victims, adds that Felipe Rocha could be sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for alleged forgery, in addition to the other offenses already mentioned. The conspiracy has kept part of Colombian society in anticipation as it is a scam that has hit select and influential members of high society. Rocha is a graduate of an exclusive British school where the students wear blazers and ties in Harry Potter-style uniforms and attends a private university in Suffolk, Boston. People close to him affirm that, in a generational change that is typical of a macho environment, he took over responsibility for the management of the family’s flower and cattle farms for a number of years.
His two older sisters were relegated to the background for many as they had more merit than the youngest. The truth is that Felipe started fattening at the age of 24 or 25 on a 70-hectare piece of land in Tocaima, a warm-climate enclave about a three-hour drive from Bogotá. With a close circle of friends he acquired around 300 Brahman-type zebu cattle weighing 360-380 kilos, which after a year, when they had reached between 480-500 kilos, were sold at a price that guaranteed a return of 30% guaranteed.
The good profitability of a company that is actually more complex and dependent on variables such as the weather and the quality of the pastures attracted new customers/friends. The circle widened in unexpected ways. But one of the deceived, who wished to remain anonymous, assures that this phase only lasted about five years and that there has not been a single ox in Tocaima for at least 15 years. Various lawyers have argued that the businessman has since started raising money to pay off debts to other companies and to lead a lifestyle that is as elegant as it is ostentatious.
The fact is that for more than a decade Rocha continued to receive billions of pesos from acquaintances he obsessively recruited with the business card of the grandson of the Patriarch Benjamín Rocha Gómez, the late founder of the imposing El Aceituno rice farm in the hot department, Tolima and the aforementioned bullfight -Cattle ranch on a hilly terrain farm built in the 17th century in Sesquilé, an hour and a half drive from Bogotá. However, the onset of the pandemic has coincided with its economic volatility, marking a turning point in the classic Rocha grandson Ponzi scheme, where first-time investors receive a return on the premiums paid by the newcomers, resulting in Make Sure You All balance previous withdrawals.
Newsletter
Analysis of current affairs and the best stories from Colombia, every week in your mailbox
GET THIS
With arrears becoming chronic, more than one began demanding tangible proof of the oxen’s existence. Some managed to press for their money to be returned. However, Rocha no longer had the financial means to meet his obligations, and several relatives began to speak of the “cattle of the metaverse”. Given the obvious signs of inconsistency, missed calls piled up on the farmer’s cell phone, and those close to him assert that the friendly guy and banal conversation turned into an elusive, diffuse topic abusing anxiolytic use.
Although some acknowledge that the business formula produced benefits for a time, it has emerged in recent months that the management of the pyramid has been disastrous from the start. Rocha only kept a chaotic and incomplete record of unreported victim contact traces supported by an old model Blackberry cell phone. To make matters worse, behind the millionaire scheme was the name of the Achury Viejo Agricultural Society, in which he and his mother, María Francisca Medina, act as legal representatives.
Investigators must ascertain her involvement in a case that will likely serve as an epilogue to the scrutiny of a cattle ranch plagued by all the injuries of a vulnerable sector like bullfighting (as a historical fact, the Achury Viejo bulls made their debut in the ). so-called “run of massacre” in which an as yet undetermined number of people died in February 1956 at the hands of the Colombian army in retaliation for booing dictator Rojas Pinilla, who was present that afternoon in Bogotá’s bullring. .
Among the victims of the pyramid, according to Semana magazine, are former President Juan Manuel Santos’ eldest son, Martín, and other members of Bogotá’s elite who have enough capital to leave millions of dollars without losing their smiles. Many others have filed complaints with the unlikely intention of winning back some money. Almost everyone has endured a shameful chapter in their lives marked by the greed and deceit of a smoke salesman who took advantage of close associates who were financially literate enough to have earned an MBA from Harvard University. But also from childhood friends, family members, investors or business administration experts from the renowned Universidad de los Andes, who did not know what would cook on land without cows.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS newsletter on Colombia and receive all the latest information about the country.