WGI scandal. After 20 years, the verdict was passed. PLN 250 million evaporated, thousands of people lost their savings

In the Warsaw district court, 20 years after the outbreak of the scandal, an invalid judgment was passed on Thursday in the trial of the heads of the Warsaw Investment Group. Łukasz K. and Maciej S. were sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment and a fine, and Andrzej S. to 2 years of imprisonment, suspended for 4 years and a fine.

WGI went bankrupt in 2006 – the company had been operating as a brokerage house for a year. She invested the money given to her on the currency market and even showed profits of several dozen percent. Investments ranged from several thousand to even several million PLN. In April 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the company's license to conduct brokerage activities, among others. for misleading customers about the status of their accounts. Then the court declared the company bankrupt.

A total of PLN 1,000 was established in the case. 156 injured creditors, whose losses were estimated at nearly PLN 248 million. The prosecutor's office accused the management board members of the fact that from February 2005 to June 2006, in order to obtain financial benefits, jointly and in concert, being obliged “to deal with the property matters of natural and legal persons, being obliged to perform their duties in good faith, in a professional manner and in compliance with the standards of professional diligence and standards resulting from the management and operation of the brokerage house, they abused the powers granted to them and failed to fulfill their obligations.”

According to investigators, the companies managed by the defendants conducted double accounting, preparing false financial reports for clients, showing profits, while in fact the money was transferred to external accounts and investments. More than USD 6.6 million was to be transferred to the account of one of the group's companies – WGI Europe, from which the money was then transferred to private accounts in banks in Zurich and Warsaw. The money of WGI Dom Maklerski clients was also to be used as security for loans taken out, among others, for the purchase of real estate in the USA.

Retrial launched in May 2023.

The retrial of WGI management board members – Łukasz K., Andrzej S. and Maciej S. – started in May 2023, after the Warsaw court of appeals overturned their acquittal in June 2022. The trial ended on February 19, and on Thursday the District Court in Warsaw announced the verdict.

The court found the defendants guilty and sentenced them Łukasz K. and Maciej S. were sentenced to 5 years in prison and ordered to pay PLN 50,000. PLN fine. On the other hand He sentenced Andrzej S. to two terms of imprisonment, suspended for 4 years, and a fine of PLN 20,000. zloty. In addition the court ordered payment to the State Treasury from Łukasz K. and Maciej S. of PLN 10,000 each. PLN 400, and from Andrzej PLN 2,000. PLN 300exempting the defendants from the remaining costs of the trial. The judgment is invalid.

“The unreliability of the defendants' explanations”

Judge Anna Wierciszewska-Chojnowska, in her oral justification lasting over two hours, indicated, among others: the unreliability of the defendants' explanations. She emphasized that the deficiencies in the evidence did not prevent the issuance of a substantive decision, which was helped by expert opinions, testimonies of hundreds of witnesses, victims, etc. – The court assessed each of these pieces of evidence – said the judge.

She emphasized that there was no doubt in the court's mind that all the defendants were members of the management board and there was a close personal relationship at the management level between the entities that managed clients' funds. The judge also pointed out that the decision on the management profile of clients' funds did not exempt them from maintaining their accounts properly.

She recalled that this management model was negatively assessed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and did not change despite the recommendations, and that another company was established to implement management under this model.

– From the very beginning, the defendants knew that the money of the brokerage house's clients would not be managed by the brokerage house. (…) Were individual clients aware of this when signing the contract with the brokerage house? – emphasized the judge. In her oral justification, she also indicated, among others: due to the lack of properly kept accounting, loss of documents, unreliable valuation of accounts and the huge scale of identified violations.

She emphasized that there is no evidence that the decision of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority to lose the license, among others, for misleading customers as to the status of their accounts was unjustified.

– All these findings prove that the information sent every month to customers had nothing to do with reality. (…) Due to this method of management, the clients of the brokerage house were unable to independently and consciously assess whether they wanted to keep their funds, the judge said.

She added that the defendants knew the actual financial results. – The sum of all these circumstances allowed the court to determine that the accused had committed the act assigned to them. (…) Each of the defendants was aware of the scope and content of their rights and obligations, the judge noted.

The first trial in this case started before the Warsaw District Court in the fall of 2013. In November 2020, the District Court in Warsaw issued an invalid judgment acquitting the defendants.

However, in June 2022, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw overturned the acquittal judgment and referred the case for reconsideration. (PAP)

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