Phantom cows and missing millions of sparking scandal in Uruguay

History: An investment scheme in which hundreds of thousands of “phantom cows” are involved has collapsed into one of the largest financial scandals in Uruguay.

People have lost their life savings.

Three companies have gone bankrupt and are examined for fraud.

The co -owner of a company involved died by suicide.

And the losses have reached around 350 million US dollars – and sent shock waves in stable agriculture.

Mendez: “These are frequent people who had their savings who decided to trust this country and to buy cattle in a traceability system that gave them trust in order to work with the development of our country.”

:: Artigas, Uruguay

Sandra Palleio is looking for a few cows.

In March 2024, she moved her savings of more than 50,000 US dollars to a “Cow Bond” program that was offered by a local investment company named Conexión Ganadera.

“You applied a photo with 60 cows and two workers, poor people. It was devastating, it was terrible, devastating.”

The idea was that the cattle are raised and sold by cattle farms for profits.

Pälero was promised in a program that corresponded to the rules for the agricultural ministry, defined returns of $ 7-10%.

They were told that she could track the cows through a state-supported online portal.

And she liked the idea of ​​possessing tangible capital. It seemed to be a safe bet.

But here in this muddy field 370 miles from Uruguay's capital Montevideo, it is practically impossible to follow the 61 cattle that it has, at least on paper.

It is far from the only one.

Politicians, radio presenters, pensioners and priests are among around 6,000 people who are now trying to recover their savings and phantom cows, possibly up to 700,000.

The cattle are the heart of Uruguay's economy, a country house of around 3.4 million people and 12 million cattle.

There are similar investment programs throughout South America. Many are legitimate.

:: Montevideo, Uruguay

Martin Fablet, a local radio moderator, said that he has invested several times in Conexion Ganadera and other cattle socks in the country in the past 12 years.

“You took your money to make an animal, and if everything was carried out correctly, you would have the money at the end of that time.”

Conexion Ganadera is one of the largest companies that are currently being examined for fraud.

The first indication of the scandal in the company came in November 2024 when a Tesla model 3 in the small town of Florida fell in the center of Uruguay with 130 miles per hour.

Behind the steering wheel stood Gustavo Basso, a co -owner of Conexion Ganadera.

A forensic doctor came to the conclusion that he had taken his own life.

Weekly after the crash, investors started reporting late payments.

By January, the company confirmed that it was almost 250 million US dollars.

Investors tried to withdraw savings because the companies did not hold as many animals as they claimed.

Some were sufficient for fraud. An investigation by the Uruguay public prosecutor's office for money laundering.

Fablet: “I think I have the opportunity to recover, but many people will not be able. There are many older people involved, many pensioners. They will suffer.”

An inventory of Conexion Ganadera, which was carried out by an insolvency administrator, estimated that the company that the company applies actually consisted of more than 800,000 cattle.

Pablo Carrasco, co -owner of the company, denies allegations of fraud.

Lawyers who represented the company stated that they could only comment on court proceedings after court statements.

Now the victims want to know how the authorities could not recognize the problems despite the cattle register.

The companies themselves were responsible for using tags and adding information to the national database.

Three lawyers for victims said it was possible that the government issued by the government were never bound to the animals because the cattle were never bought.

Two other lawyers that were supposed to belong to cows of investors were illegally sold without their consent.

Pedro Mendez represents some of the victims.

“We have found that there is a difference between what was invested and that was bought. At the moment we check what was recorded in the system and what was actually real, and we know that there was a difference. Some of our customers had 75 animals, but today they have none.”

Uruguay's national cattle register said it would not comment on the cases.

The Ministry of Cattle did not answer Reuters as to whether the registration system had failed.

Back in ARTIGAS, drone material shows around 80 cattle – compared to several hundred hundred to Palleio and their co -investors.

“I helped build two groups of emotional support because some people wanted to commit suicide and had some psychiatric problems or had the medication or who simply could no longer deal with it.”

Palleio says she is angry with how many hard -working Uruguayers are injured.

“This money was my retirement. I fight for my savings and for retirement that I deserved through my efforts.”