Complaint / review text:
He was arrested for crimes related to the £390m seizure of the pre-construction resorts in 2013 and was handed a four-year jail sentence in the JoTS and El Caribe Real Estate pre-developments in Calabria, Italy.
600 Investors lost their pre-construction deposits ranging from €40, 000 to €165, 000 that Velardo marketed to buyers in the UK, Ireland and Europe under his investment fraud ponzi-scheme. The money was improperly released to Velardo by a law firm run by Gabriele Giambrone struck off by the UK Law Society because of accounting irregularities from the transactions.
Antonio Velardo co-registered VFI Overseas Properties Real Estate Agent Ltd ("VFI") to promote the developments. Velardo was also the administrator of Veco Construzioni Srl ("Veco"). Velardo became a promoter of real estate off-plan development on behalf of the 'Ndrangheta to exploit the grey area between the role of 'promoter' and 'marketer' in Italy. The money he stole from 600 investors was washed through the financial system from 2007 onward.
Velardo studied several degrees whilst in prison and also prior to his arrest. While inside prison, he continued to look for new markets to launder the 'Ndrangheta money, the latest in the Americas and the Middle East. Antonio Velardo's role was a middleman to smooth things over between the frontmen and the 'Ndrangheta laundering their drug money. Operation Metropolis (commonly referred to as 'operazione-metropolis' in Italian), resulted in 16 arrests in March 2013 and the seizure of the developments by the Italian Guardia di Finanza - the anti-Mafia Police.
Antonio Velardo travels the world as a self-styled entrepreneur looking for 'investment opportunities'. It is incumbent on all to be aware that he is NOT the respectable 'venture capitalist' you might think he is. He is linked to the violent Italian Mafia: the 'Ndrangheta who already scammed 600 Investors out of substantial money.
https://www.approdocalabria.it/giornale/operazione-metropolis-assolto-ling-antonio-velardo/
https://www.zoom24.it/2017/02/17/processo-al-clan-mancuso-pronto-la-sentenza-grande-attesa-al-tribunale-vibo-42772
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