Uruguay: Phantom cows and missing millions of sparks financial scandal

Lucinda Elliott from Reuters reports that the previous losses from “Cow Bond” programs are affected by around 350 million US dollars …

Likeigas, Uruguay
Reuters

Sandra Palleio is looking for her lost cows. The 60-year-old accountant is at the end of an agricultural route in Uruguay's remote border region with Brazil.

It is 600 kilometers from the capital Montevideo to find 61 cattle that she has, at least on paper. The missing cattle were part of a “cow binding” scheme that collapsed, which led to one of the largest financial scandals in Uruguay.

On April 9, 2025, Sandra Palleio stands near a cow on a farm on a farm in Artigas, Uruguay. Image: Reuters/Martin Varela Umpierrez

The co -owner of a Uruguayan company who took money from savers to invest in cows died by suicide. Three companies have gone bankrupt and are examined for fraud.

“Hello Moo-Moo! Could one of you belong to me?” Hopefully Palleio came to a paddock in the border region of ARTIGAS, with her jeans being involved in mud when she approached a wire fence to take a closer look at the cows.

Palleiro – like hundreds of other investors – cannot find or prove the animals that they own or prove that they exist at all what makes them a flock of “phantom cows” that could belong to over 700,000 beef head.

Palleiro – like hundreds of other investors – cannot find or prove the animals that they own or prove that they exist at all what makes them a flock of “phantom cows” that could belong to over 700,000 beef head.

So far, the losses have increased to around 350 million US dollars of 350 million US dollars and initiated stable agriculture in only 3.4 million people – but 12 million cows. It has also sent shock waves through larger ranch neighbor Argentina and Brazil, which the cattle tracking system from Uruguay were operated as a model and in which similar investment schemes were operated by the cattle.

In March 2024, Palleio put her savings of over $ 50,000 into the animal investment scheme offered by a local company called Conexión Ganadera, which was attracted by promises from promising seven to $ 10 percent yield and investment materials with bucolian pictures of Braun-White-Hereford-Cattle.

Savers could have cows directly, which were raised and sold by cattle companies for profits or would take over an investment share in the overall system. Palleio, an urban specialist, liked the idea of ​​having a tangible capital. It seemed to be a safe bet.

She was able to pursue the cows over a state-supported online portal for watching years worldwide an example of cattle tracking, the breed, age and location. Each cow was to be branded with a symbol assigned by the government, and documents in which its assets are listed was promoted the coat of arms of the Ministry of Agriculture that monitors the Vide Register.

The National Viper Register of Uruguay refused to comment on the cases.

A drone view shows Rinders on a farm in Artigas, Uruguay on April 10, 2025. Image: Reuters/Martin Varela Umpierrez

When she went in search of her cows, Palleio wore print copies from the cattle registration to see whether she could match the 53 tracking numbers connected to the 53 with the tags of the cows that they stared on the opposite side of the fence.

With her smartphone camera, she zoomed in the tracking numbers that were recorded on her ears. Only a few of the matching numbers soon became. Then the cows drove back. She couldn't come close enough. The exercise felt hopeless.

“It feels like falling into a nightmare,” said Palleio.

Three of the largest fraud companies are Conexión Ganadera, República Ganadera and Grupo Larrarte, who convinced almost 6,000 people or investor pools between them to shop in the program and invest millions of dollars.

Similar investment systems exist throughout South America, in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. Many are legitimate.

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Martín Fablet, a local radio presenter in Montevideo, said that he has invested several times in Conexión Ganadera and other cattle programs in Uruguay in the past 12 years: “This system to get fantastic well for at least 11 years.

The first indication of the scandal in Conexión Ganadera took place on November 28 of last year when a Tesla Model 3 car fell in the small town of Florida at 211 kilometers per hour. Behind the steering wheel was Gustavo Basso, one of the co -owners of Conexión Ganadera, who had been booming since the opening in 1999.

Weeks after driving his car into a parked construction vehicle, investors reported their payments from the cattle program too late, and in January the company confirmed that it was almost 250 million dollars. A forensic doctor concluded in April that Basso had died through suicide.

Conexión Ganadera was one of the three means to warn at the end of last year that they were unable to fulfill the obligations to investors. They had little cash that accused them of for the undesirable weather (there was a drought in 2022-23) and hard market conditions.

By the end of January, investors tried to withdraw savings in the middle of fraud reports. Some submitted for defects that led to bankruptcy proceedings and an official investigation by the Uruguay public prosecutor's office due to money laundering crimes. The prosecutor refused to comment on Reuters.

Pablo Carrasco from Conexión Ganadera denies allegations of fraud. Lawyers who represented Conexión Ganadera said they could not surrender to legal proceedings until a certificate was given in court. Grupo Larrarte's lawyer said the law firm was fully worked with the authorities. República Ganadera did not respond to a Reuter's request for comments.

Gaucho's facial cattle in a pen on a farm in Artigas, Uruguay, on April 9, 2025. Image: Reuters/Martin Varela Umpierrez

Politicians, radio presenters, pensioners and even priests are one of the thousands who are now trying to regain their savings – and their missing Phantom cattle, the number of which is difficult.

One inventory of the largest company, Conexión Ganadera, which was carried out by an insolvency administrator, estimated that the company that the company has to be managed only 70,000 of the 804,604 cattle existed.

In another legal proceedings in fraud allegations, the Urinzenium for Agriculture and the cattle (MGAP) in Uruguay announced in March that one of the most important cattle companies in Conexión Ganadera, Pasfer, had only 49 of the 3,740 cows, which are kept as collateral for a loan.

“We do not know if the cows have ever been bought, whether they are alive or dead,” said Palleio while driving along the Country alley to the Artigas Ranch. “Maybe the cows were counterfeiting or sold, somewhere or her tags have been changed.”

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

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Three lawyers for victims said it was possible that the government issued by the government were never bound to the animals because the animals were never bought and investments were used for other purposes. Two other lawyers represented by investors in bankruptcy and fraud cases indicated that cows were sold illegally without consent.

Each company was responsible for applying the tags and in the crime data to the national register. “The register reflects what the company has provided. The problem is that there was no control over what the company made available,” said one of the lawyers, Nicolás Hores, who represents 98 victims.

Hores said he had gone to several farms and found that the number of cattle did not match the registration. Two other investors who spoke to Reuters with told similar stories about the attempt to find their cows.

Uruguay's Ministry of Viehminium did not answer Reuters whether the registration system had failed.

Livestock stand on a farm in Artigas, Uruguay, on April 9, 2025. Image: Reuters/Martin Varela Umpierrez

A manager of Grupo Larrarte, the first company that receives formal complaints from investors, is already in prison as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, which is separated from the insolvency proceedings. In April, Jairo Larrarte was put in a preventive imprisonment by a judge for alleged crimes of embezzlement, fraud and the exhibition of poor checks.

In an answer to Reuters, his lawyer Enrique Möller said that his client had fully teamed up with the authorities and that cattle had already been returned to some investors.

República Ganadera announced a voluntary bankruptcy in November that had rejected the courts in March because the authorities opened an investigation of the company's accounts. Negotiations with the creditors continue and the company said in a declaration of March 25 that “the best possible solution for those affected. The company did not respond to Reuters' inquiries about comments.

There are several open studies on Conexión Ganadera, the largest of the three. The company's co -owner, Pablo Carrasco, his wife Ana Iewdiukow and the widow of Basso, Daniela Cabral, are examined for fraud and embezzlement. In February, all three were temporarily held away from leaving Uruguay without judicial approval and confiscating their passports. The lawyer of Carrascos, Jorge Barrera, said there was no comment on the media.

Basso, whose high -speed crash presented the downfall of the company, lived on a large scale in the city of Florida, in which a small city feeling lived and 30,000 people were surrounded by arable land.

Fablet, the local radio presenter, said he had met Basso about 50 times over a decade, social and while he covered agricultural events for radio.

“[Basso] Was a Snake Charmeur, ”said Fablet, a long -time investor in Conexión Ganadera.

Sandra Palleio looks on cattle on a farm in ARTIGAS, Uruguay, on April 9, 2025. Image: Reuters/Martin Varela Umpierrez

Back on the artigas farm, Reuter's drone material showed around 80 animals compared to what several hundred listeners should have with Palleio and other investors.

Farmers on the ranch explained that more animals were traveling in other areas. Several delays mentioned in salary payments since the scandal broke out, and they said that there was no easy way to check which, if at all, belonged.

Palleio himself was upset about how the case injured so many hard -working Uruguayians. At times she had accepted three jobs to put together a neste for her retirement.

“We have invested all of our savings that made us a lot of effort,” she said with emotions. “Now we want justice.”

– Additional reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo and Manuela Andreoni in Para, Brazil.