Fraud

OPINION ESSAY: FRAUD Read the article and the statement below and state your personal point of view to start writing your essay. A couple of years ago, Colombia had to face one of the most outrageous scandals of fraud in its entire history. Behaving as a modern Robin Hood who takes from rich and gives to poor, David Murcia Guzman created an imaginable empire in which he gave many people lots andlots of money, but some others lost their entire life savings. There are some Colombians who still approve Murcia’s behavior, but there some others who agree with the government’s opinion of treating him as a dangerous criminal. What is your personal opinion in regards this issue? PYRAMID SCHEME HEAD CHALLENGES THE COLOMBIAN STATE

As the Colombian government faces the pyramid scheme crisis,David Murcia Guzmán, the head of DMG, a large pyramid investment company, threatens to send his followers to the streets. He was captured on Wednesday night in Panama.

Not since the time of Pablo Escobar, when he acted like a philanthropist and won popular acclaim with his program Medellín sin Tugurios (Medellín without Shantytowns), has Colombia seen such an enigmatic and controversial figuresuch as David Murcia Guzmán. Of course there are great differences between the two. Back then as time went by, Escobar stopped appearing to be a Robin Hood and declared a bloody war against the state, while the only thing that Murcia has announced is that he will send his thousands of investors into the streets and warns that he has all of his legal artillery prepared to make his economic emporiumrespected, a business which he says has completely followed the law. Where there are similarities -given their differences in proportion- is that in both cases they became targets of the state. At least that is the way it was declared on Friday, when President Álvaro Uribe decided to lead the entire state apparatus to criminally confront DMG and try to expose the magic formula that hides behind thatmultimillion dollar business. The country just became aware last week of the existence of David Murcia Guzmán, the head of the skyrocketing firm DMG, when pyramid schemes throughout the country collapsed and left nearly 2 million victims who, whether because of ignorance, foolishness or ambition, had entrusted the schemes with their savings.

None of the pyramid schemes that collapsed belongedto DMG. But the eyes of the government and of justice are focused on DMG because it has been the source of inspiration of the nearly 250 pyramid schemes that the government has identified nationwide. With its philosophy of multiplying money and thus feeding a mafia-like culture of easy money, DMG gained the confidence of its clients. It also showed the way for many other unscrupulous types whofound a market willing to bet on this risky business. Last Friday the country discovered the true character of Murcia - and just how far he seems prepared to go when he addressed Uribe as equals, as no Colombian would dare, or at least no other businessperson. He told him on the La W radio talk program, “No, Mr. President, that’s not the way it is and I hope that you are listening to this. Becauseif you are going to take arbitrary measures, then allow me to tell you that I also will do arbitrary things.” And, immediately after that, he made a subtle declaration of war. “And allow me to say to you that I will also turn the people against the government.” One of the worries of the government with DMG is that, in addition to being a pyramid scheme, it could serve as a tool for the drugtrafficking business through money laundering, because it is able to introduce cash into the legal market, or by financing drug shipments. The authorities are investigating a possible link with the drug trafficker “Chupeta” through a money exchange business which opened branches in DMG offices. Murcia immediately rejects any accusation and repeats, as he said in his first interview granted to SEMANA in...