Montevideo Portal
Pedro Moya had two apartments in La Barra and another two in Manantiales, in Punta del Este. He planned to live his last years of life with the income generated from those properties, which had been very good during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons. Those four apartments were managed by a friend of his who he had absolute confidence in, as stated.
Infobae.
Before living on the rent, Moya was a businessman known because he was the owner of the hotel and restaurant “La Posta del Cangrejo”, located in La Barra. In 2016, he sold the hotel to a group of investors and, with the money acquired, bought the aforementioned apartments for $ 600,000 each.
In December 2018, already living on income, Moya traveled to Spain to visit his family and, when he returned to Uruguay, he realized that he was missing $ 200,000 in his bank accounts. What happened was that the trust administrator had a power of attorney signed by the businessman, although he never saw any notary public. Moya sought legal advice, revoked the alleged power of attorney, and walked away from him.
However, the illegalities continued. A year later the administrator raised a business that would make him earn money. For that, he mortgaged two of his apartments with a lender for $ 400,000. That money would be loaned to a builder who would pay $ 40,000 to put those properties as collateral.
According to Moya, the builder would also take care of paying the mortgage interest to the lender. A few months later, the administrator proposed to Moya to mortgage the two remaining apartments, also for $ 400,000. That money would be invested in oil wells in Argentina, according to the complaint filed with the Prosecutor’s Office in 2019.
In the middle of 2019, the same year of the mortgages, Moya began to receive the first requests for payments for the mortgages. He thought that the debts were being paid regularly. He realized, then, that the administrator scammed him, taking advantage of his age and the confidence he had in him after so many years. In addition, he discovered that the builder he had done business with was actually taking people to gamble at a casino.
“The administrator and that supposed builder scammed me and I was totally left out,” said Moya. He added that he currently supports himself thanks to the fact that one of his brothers who lives in Spain sends him money every month to be able to have a roof and a plate of food.
The former businessman made a criminal complaint and is waiting for him to advance. “I am hopeful that (the investigation) will prosper. It has been suspended for many months due to the pandemic. The Prosecutor’s Office should advance the case, because it seems to me that what I suffered is a crime, ”he said.
The case is being investigated by the prosecutor Ana Roses in the Maldonado 2nd shift Prosecutor’s Office and it is estimated that the maneuver would reach, at least, about $ 800,000.
Montevideo Portal
