Court upholds preventive detention for Johnny Portorreal in Rosario family fraud case

Santo Domingo.- On Wednesday night, the Second Chamber of the Criminal Chamber in the National District reaffirmed the decision of preventive detention for lawyer Johnny Portorreal, who stands accused of defrauding the Rosario family.

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Judge Clara Almonte stated that the duration of the coercive measure imposed on the defendant has not yet lapsed.

Portorreal is alleged to have deceived members of the Rosario family by promising to deliver a million-dollar inheritance supposedly inherited from their ancestors.

During a conversation with the press earlier, Viterbo Pérez, the lawyer representing the defendant, expressed his hope for Portorreal’s release, emphasizing that he has already spent 19 months in preventive detention.

The Public Ministry’s accusation outlines that the defendant solicited significant sums of money from the Rosario family members, asserting false information that the funds from the alleged inheritance had been transferred to the Central Bank and subsequently to the Reserve Bank, with involvement from Banco Santander in Spain and Banco Zurich in Switzerland.

The judicial system classified this incident legally as a violation of articles 265, 266, and 405 of the Dominican Penal Code, delineating the crimes of criminal association and fraud. Additionally, it implicates articles 2, 6, and 9 of Law 155-2017 on Money Laundering.