56-year old Emmanuel Rivera Ledesma was arrested on 2 January 2024. A court had issued a first arrest order on 28 July 2023. At the time, neither the Police nor prosecutors complied with the order.
For years, Rivera Ledesma would tell his customers to take their complaints to the judiciary, that he had good connections in government, mentioning he had ties to President Luis Abinader and to Tourism Minister David Collado. The delay in the authorities’ making the arrest and starting the prosecution had the victims of the real estate fraud thinking he was right. Many, nevertheless, did not give up.
The affected parties did not give up. They took the time-consuming route of appearing on talk shows and TV programs to present their complaints. Most were Dominican expats who had made advance payments for undelivered property in eastern Santo Domingo and other areas.
Somos Pueblo and Nuria Investigacion aired numerous programs with the complaints. Reports are that the developer did not own the property on which the apartments would be built, which is one of the reasons for the delay in construction and delivery by one of the companies, Indisarq.
The Attorney General now presents a 63-page file as part of the named Operation Nest investigation into a criminal network under Emmanuel Rivera Ledesma.
The prosecutors say that 144 persons have submitted legal claims demanding their advance payments be returned. The pressure escalated when the claimants began to protest in the United States after the judiciary in the Dominican Republic failed to act in this apparent case of real estate fraud.
Adjunct prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso led the arrest of the businessman on Wednesday, 3 January 2024, and announced the real estate fraud case as Operation Nido (Operation Nest). The prosecutors now have 48 hours to present charges.
Listin Diario reports that Rivera Ledesma had served time in La Victoria Jail in 2017 for fraud.
The Public Ministry detailed in a press release that the criminal network used the corporations Indisarq, SRL, CRD Equipos Pesados, SRL, the Wimar Group, SRL and Auto Xperts AFM SRL, “through which they created a fraudulent real estate scheme.”
The prosecutors say 25 searches have been carried out in coordination with the Police in San Cristóbal, Dajabón, Espaillat, Sánchez Ramírez and the National District to prepare the case.
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Attorney General Office
Listin Diario
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El Caribe
Diario Libre
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Diario Libre
Acento
Somos Pueblo
N Digital
N Digital
Nuria Piera Investigacion
Nuria Piera
Hoy
El Dia
4 January 2024