Raids, confiscations in US$22.0M Peravia bank fraud(Update)

Santo Domingo.- Insurance superintendent Euclides Gutiérrez on Thursday afternoon said the insurance company Union de Seguros, a subsidiary of the collapsed Banco Peravia bank, was intervened since August 4 on deficits uncovered in its reserve investment.

FILE. The National District Office of the Prosecutor on Thursday raided and seized several properties of the executives of the shuttered Banco Peravia bank, seeking evidence in the alleged embezzlement of US$22.0 million by executives who’ve fled the country.

In simultaneous raids the investigators went to the bank branch on Churchill Av. in the capital, looking for evidence against Peravia president Jose Luis Santorro and vice president Gabriel Arturo Jimenez Aray.

Other searches were made at Ben Gurrión St. in the sector Piantini, property of Jimenez and at Hatuey St. in Los Cacicazgos, allegedly residence of Jimenez’s girlfriend, known only as "Megadiva," for whom the executive reportedly installed two beauty salons in two major malls, and an apartment attributed to Santorro, on Cabrera St., in Naco.

Meanwhile the executives’ lawyers on Thursday filed a restraining order against the National District Office of the Prosecutor, the Banks Superintendence and the National Police, to cease and desist from the persecution of their clients.

More than 20 lawsuits have been filed against Peravia’s executives on charges of conspiracy, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax evasion.