The National Court will study this Tuesday whether to extradite to the United States a British man, David Andrew Kennedy, who was arrested in the Malaga town of Marbella accused of participating in and organizing from Spain a Ponzi scheme with which he deceived nearly 800 investors around the world with the bait of buying co-working spaces –coworking– in a company called ‘Bar Works’.
According to the letter from the Public Ministry, collected by Europa Press, from 2015 to 2017 the defendant and his accomplices attracted investors for that company that would be based in Delaware (USA) and whose owner and main controller was Renwicck Haddow. Investors, some 800 around the world, placed in that company up to 57 million dollarsand the system allowed them to lease those workspaces from ‘Bar Works’ and ensured them a profit of 14 to 16% each year.
To get that individual workspace lease, paid between $22,000 and $30,000. This gave them the opportunity to sublet that same space to a company affiliate, thus guaranteeing themselves a monthly rental fee. The company promised the full return of the investment in 10 years. The prosecutor explains that ‘Bar Works’ actually worked with a pyramid deception scheme because it paid investors with the money it raised from new ones. He points out that this pyramid finally “collapsed” in 2017 and caused millions of dollars in losses.
The Public Ministry points out that ‘Bar Works’ indicated in its documents that the general director was Jonathan Black, which was actually a fictitious identity to hide Renwicck Haddow’s participation as founder given that he had a negative record and was disabled in the United Kingdom due to schemes investment priors. kennedy and Haddow they engaged in recruiting agents to sell those leases and provided them with those offer documents that contained the false information.
In Spain, the organization attracted more than 100 investors and 7.5 million dollars
In Spainthe organization captured through the company United Property Group more than 100 investors that were left approximately $7.5 million in that business. As the prosecutor recalls, the investigation shows that an account controlled by Keneddy and another accomplice received more than 2 million dollars in commissions received from ‘Bar Works’, funds that were transferred to other associated accounts.
The Public Ministry points out that Kennedy was arrested in November 2022 in Marbella after receiving the international arrest warrant issued by the US judicial authorities and who has remained in provisional prison.
The crimes for which they claim him are fraud and belonging to a criminal organization. He points out that the requirements for his extradition are met since the facts have not prescribed, there is no political motivation for the extradition, the penalty that is contemplated for the crimes exceeds one year in prison and the principle of double criminality is given -that the crimes for which he is prosecuted also exist in Spain.