Founder of Biscayne Capital Faces 10 Years Behind the Bar for $150M Ponzi

On April 24, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Roberto Gustavo Cortes Ripalda, 58, co-founder and former CEO of Biscayne Capital, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for committing wire fraud.

Cortes had pleaded guilty in September 2023. In addition, the court ordered Cortes to pay $3.4 million in forfeiture and $103 million in restitution to more than 110 victims.

According to court documents, Cortes and his co-conspirator Ernesto Heraclito Weisson Pazmino founded Biscayne Capital in 2005 for the purpose of providing financial support to real estate company South Bay.

When South Bay faced financial problems in 2007, Cortes and Weisson recruited investors to inject capital into the company. Instead of using their clients' funds for project development, they paid other investors and used the funds to pay off interest and debt.

They sent numerous false or misleading investment documents to investors and provided customers with falsified account statements.

By the time the scam collapsed, Biscayne Capital had cost more than $155 million in loss to investors.

Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said that Cortes worked with his team to perpetrate the Biscayne Capital Ponzi scheme for more than five years, causing at least $155 million in losses to investors. The victims of this Ponzi scheme were spread across the globe, including even friends and family of the perpetrators.

“The sentence will hold Cortes accountable for his years of lies and deception,” Galeotti added.