Swindled Major League Baseball player also demands investment protection

Santo Domingo.- Major League Baseball player Julio Lugo, swindled out of RD$50.0 million (US$1.2 million) in the purchase of a lot in the upscale sector Las Praderas in the Capital, vowed Thursday not to invest “one single cent” in the country if his case isn’t resolved in court.

Lugo, one the main leaders in the Leones of Santo Domingo’s championship in the Caribbean Baseball Series, said that with its case sets a bad precedent, because after what happened to him no ball player wants to invest his money in the country. “This sends a bad message not only to Major Leagues players, but also to foreign investors afraid of investing their money in the country, fearing that what happened me can happen to them.”

Lugo was interviewed by elnacional.com.do in the Supreme Court where to the hearing in the case against Edwin Bacquero, charged with the fraud in the sale of the lot, and according to a lower court sentence, posed as the owner, in the name of a private company.

During the hearing the prosecution asked the justices to overturn the sentence which reduced Baquero’s conviction from 10 to five years in prison, claiming that the swindler deserved a longer jail term.

Lugo’s complaint comes just hours after a major Spanish hotel chain made a similar demand and just two months after the British Ambassador’s claim of lack of judicial security for foreign investors.