Social Media Persona Under Scrutiny in Fraud Trial
Francisco Imobach Pomares, accused as the alleged perpetrator of aggravated fraud and misappropriation in the well-known Tradex case being tried in the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, presented himself on his various social media profiles as a “portfolio investment manager, financial asset manager, trader, and registered commercial agent”. On some of these profiles, he had also linked a URL associated with Tradex Management. Prosecutor Andrés Velasco highlighted these significant details from the documentary evidence included in the case file, in which Pomares is charged alongside Mukesh Daswani and Daswani’s partner, Cecilia Hernández. The Public Prosecutor is seeking a 12-year prison sentence for Daswani and nine years’ imprisonment for Pomares. Lawyer Carlos Zurita, representing one of the private prosecutions, has increased the sentence request for Imobach Pomares to eleven and a half years.
Luxury Living Funded by Alleged Fraud
Hernández is accused on a profit-making basis, with a claim against her for the €327,000 she allegedly enjoyed through transfers, gifts, trips, and stays in luxury hotels funded by money defrauded from Tradex clients. During the last session of the oral hearing—now paused for the Christmas holidays and set to resume on 12 January—the final witness proposed by the parties appeared. After this phase concluded, the prosecutor, private accusers, and defence teams presented the court with the most relevant reports forming part of the documentary evidence.
Police Witness Details Initial Complaint
That witness was a National Police officer, the investigator of the complaint filed by Pomares on 22 July 2022. This was after Mukesh Daswani informed him and other collaborators at the Tradex offices, located on Calle Castillo, that “there was no money to pay the investors they had recruited”. Daswani fled to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates days after emptying his bank accounts and those linked to Tradex. He left behind nearly two hundred investors who had trusted the promises of the now-accused individuals, along with other collaborators and agents. This brought down a scheme alleged to have defrauded nearly three million euros.
Claims of Ignorance and Cooperation
The police officer stated that Pomares presented himself as just another victim of a pyramid scheme allegedly devised by Daswani without his knowledge. He declared that Pomares was a “self-employed worker with a commercial relationship as a sales agent for Tradex, also managing the brand’s social media”. The officer, under questioning from Pomares’s lawyer, confirmed that Pomares had handed over “three blue folders with documentation, contracts, and bank statements” at the police station. The agent added that Pomares “was very cooperative, offering a lot of information about Daswani’s possible whereabouts, who had once mentioned to him that he wanted to go to Dubai and buy a house,” he recalled. The officer further stated that Pomares explained that “he, his brother, his parents, and friends had invested their savings, that they were victims.”
Prosecution Questions Testimony Consistency
The prosecutor questioned this last point: “How did you know about the investments from Pomares’s circle if it’s not recorded in the complaint?” The officer responded that “it’s likely he mentioned it in a conversation.” Velasco then highlighted inconsistencies in his testimony with a second question: “Is everything you are recounting now from a conversation?” and added, “because your official report does not include any of this.” Lawyer Carlos Zurita asked the officer if Imobach Pomares had spoken to him about the company Pomares and Daswani SL [registered on 20 April 2022], to which he replied that “he did not remember and, if he did, it must be in the report.” Zurita asked a second question: “Did he mention if he had drawn up contracts for investors?” The response was: “I don’t think so, he said he was a sales agent.”
Recorded Conversations Presented as Evidence
Several audio recordings featuring Pomares were brought before the court as documentary evidence. These included conversations with the law firm that Imobach Pomares approached with several defrauded investors—a firm that later withdrew from representing him after he was charged—as well as conversations with affected parties. In these, he sought to limit the “responsibility” of the company he owned 50/50 with Daswani, trying to convince them it was created to manage trading training courses and had nothing to do with the investments.
No post found!