VenePirámides
Alek Boyd has published a captivating investigative journalism article, which we translate for our readers: In April, during my research on the Boliburguesía, I stumbled upon a somewhat bold claim that left me astonished: DAVOS Financial Group, owned by David J. Osio, was stating on its website that it had a “portfolio valued at over $1 trillion in assets under management from private and institutional clients.” One trillion dollars.
Wow. I made sure to take a screenshot and then tweeted: “(?).? David Osio claims his bank DAVOS has a trillion dollars under management. Is this where most of the missing funds in Vzla are @davosobserver?”
The response was swift and came via Twitter (as seen below).
DAVOS Financial Group claimed their site “had been hacked by unscrupulous hands…” However, archive.org paints a different picture, providing evidence that the supposed hacking lasted nearly a year: that is, DAVOS didn’t realize that their website had been “compromised” for almost a year, as the claim of a trillion dollars under management was already visible as of August 2012, placed there by the “unscrupulous hands” of hackers and no one at DAVOS noticed until I tweeted about it.
But the oddities of Davos don’t stop there. In various publications to seek new business, they claim to have USD 2.8 trillion under management. That’s a significant difference, right? From $1 trillion to $2.8 trillion?
But the inconsistencies don’t end there. In another publication, DAVOS states “… that it operates under the supervision of international bodies, such as: ARIF (Switzerland), FINRA and FREC (United States), National Securities Commission (Panama).”
ARIF in Switzerland has no records of DAVOS Financial Group, but rather a file for the Asset Manager D. Société financière (Suisse) SA, which DAVOS claims is their “Swiss holding.” Swiss official records show that David Osio’s control over D. Société has been revoked.
FINRA also has some very interesting information about DAVOS. There are two individuals registered as investment advisors for DAVOS: Andres Coles and Adam Stramwasser. A search for DAVOS shows two records, one for Florida and one from New York. However, in the investment advisor registration application, the question identified as “O” states: “Do you have $1 trillion or more in assets on the last day of your most recent fiscal year?” In both cases, DAVOS answered negatively. Therefore, either DAVOS is misleading its potential clients in its informational brochures, press releases, and website, or it provided false information on its application to the U.S. Securities Commission.
When I asked DAVOS what financial authority regulated their activities, Carmen Monasterio responded:
“In response to your question, please note that Davos Financial Group operates as a financial advisory firm in regulated jurisdictions and exclusively with top-tier financial institutions in the U.S. and Europe. As a licensed and regulated company, our compliance policies are very strict, adhering to best practices, and under constant oversight by regulators in Switzerland, Europe, and the United States. Our KYC procedures follow the highest standards, equal to those of our correspondent banks in Europe and the U.S. Our executives receive regular training and are certified in AML by FIBA and other prestigious institutions.”
I’m sure that Davos’ AML compliance policies in Venezuela are “very strict,” just like those of HSBC in Mexico. FIBA, which is a trade association and not an official financial oversight body, recently refused to provide information related to the accreditations supposedly obtained by the staff of DAVOS Financial Group, sending an unsigned response to an information request I submitted.
I understand that DAVOS operates in different jurisdictions, so does the $1 trillion, or the $2.8 trillion refer to all assets in all jurisdictions? Also, why would DAVOS bother to register in Florida and New York and have a couple of registered investment advisors in the U.S. to then place a warning on their website saying that their services cannot be offered to residents of the United States?
David Osio is a resident of the U.S. to my knowledge, and he has even donated to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Barack Obama’s campaigns. Does his company pay taxes on less than $1 trillion, on $2.8 trillion, or on $1 trillion?