Spain's very own "mini-Madoff"

In the five weeks that Germán Cardona Soler has spent in the Madrid region's Soto del Real prison accused of money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy, Spanish police have been gradually piecing together a complex 215-million-euro international Ponzi scheme that apparently hooked some 110,000 small investors.

So far, police say that they have been unable to find any trace of the money, although they have seized property in Spain owned by Cardona Soler valued at around 24 million euros. But his bank accounts are empty, and he has told police that he is "broke."

Cardona first attracted the attention of the authorities in October 2008, when Federal prosecutors in Miami traced money - seized as part of an investigation into a company linked to Cardona Soler called EMG - to the narcotics trade. The scheme was promoted on TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and other Ponzi online forums.

"He gave a feeling of integrity. He seemed professional, very American"

His girlfriend slipped out of Barajas on the same day Cardona was arrested

Cardona, 49, is also referenced in other Ponzi cases in Florida.

Spanish prosecutors say that Finanzas Forex attracted clients from some 110 countries from every corner of the world through its internet site, which offered returns of between 10 percent and 21 percent to investors prepared to put their money into the international currency markets.

The company, established in March 2007, set up online accounts for investors using bogus charts and graphs showing them how their money was growing daily.

In reality, allege investigators from the High Court, Cardona and his associates were simply running a classic Ponzi scheme that paid money to older investors, not from profits, but from the cash paid in by new victims of the multi-million-dollar scam.

In June 2008, when Cardona organized a second convention to attract new investors at a five-star hotel in Brazil, US investigators say that Finanzas Forex had already garnered some 1.4 billion eurosfrom investors in just over one year, attracting up to 600 clients per day.

But when US Federal authorities blocked Cardona Soler's accounts in the United States, the money needed to pay investors began to dry up.

In a bid to keep the funds flowing, Cardona and his team around the world would collect investors' money from them personally, in cash.

Among them was the Marbella resident, Arancha Aguirreche: "A young man traveled by car from Barcelona to meet me in a bar in Marbella to collect my money. He brought a laptop computer. He plugged it in there and then, and showed me how he transferred the funds from his electronic account to mine. But I haven't seen my money since that day."

Another victim of the Ponzi scheme, who wishes to remain anonymous and who attended Finanzas Forex's convention in Brazil in 2008, says she was impressed by Cardona's appearance. "He was slim, serious, and always wearing a suit. I liked him: he gave the impression of being a man of integrity... credible. He seemed professional, very American."

A judicial source who has spoken with Cardona during his five weeks in jail awaiting trial describes him as "highly persuasive," adding: "Finanzas Forex was smoke and mirrors, and he knew how to sell it."

Javier Ricardo Rodríguez Forero, a Colombian financial consultant who denies Cardona's involvement in any wrongdoing, says that Cardona is confident of his release. "Germán is well. The main thing that bothers him is when the media refers to him as the Spanish Madoff." Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009 for organizing a35-billion-euro Ponzi scheme.

To judge from a letter posted on the website that Rodríguez Forero runs to campaign for Cardona's innocence, on April 8, Cardona's only hope seems to be divine intervention: "We have faith that God will help the truth come out, and that we can continue to help thousands of people to improve their lives. Now, our work alone will not be enough. We need the help of God."

Spanish police have arrested two others over their involvement in the alleged swindle, and have issued warrants for seven others, among them Cardona's girlfriend, Lina María Mantilla Grande, who eluded the authorities at Madrid's Barajas airport on the same day that Cardona was arrested at his home in Valencia.

Spanish police say that Cardona may have other concerns than the lengthy prison sentence that probably awaits him. Serbian and Colombian criminals who used Finanzas Forex to launder money have also been on his trail. They will be asking the same question as the other investors and the authorities: where is the money?