ZWOLLE, WILLEMSTAD - Both the Public Prosecution Service (OM) in the Netherlands and the defense of Curaçao business owners Itzhak "Isaac" Grynsztein and Omer Grynsztein are appealing the conviction of the two brothers for laundering more than $ 320 million.
The Overijssel District Court in Zwolle imposed six and five years in prison two weeks ago. The Dutch OM and the lawyers think the sentence is too high, they reported yesterday. The brothers Isaac (53) and Omer (45) were convicted in connection with "dollar tourism" also known as "swipe tourism" from Venezuela.
The OM had demanded considerably lower penalties, because the two brothers had given openness and cooperated in the criminal investigation. At the beginning of this year, the OM announced that it would experiment in the Netherlands with agreements with suspects in larger fraud cases.
In this case, Cymbal, the prosecutors came with lower demand and the suspects have already started to repay the criminal profit. But according to the court, this agreement with low criminal demand is at odds with the purpose of punishing such facts. The OM will continue to make such agreements, a spokesperson said.
"This is just one verdict and we judge every case in itself." The Grynsztein brothers do not regret cooperating in this agreement, says lawyer Willem Koops. "Although they did not see this ruling coming."
According to Koops, the court did not take sufficient account of the fact that the brothers compensated for the damage. The Overijssel court dismissed the deal between the Dutch Public Prosecution Service and the convicted persons. In Curaçao, the Troya case, which is strongly related to Cymbal, is pending before the court. The court in Willemstad will rule on this case on Friday 27 September.
"In this case, in the opinion of the court, the punishment demanded by the OM does not in any way do justice to the nature and seriousness of the facts and the circumstances in which they were committed," said the Zwolle judgment two weeks ago. The court considers that in particular the purpose of general prevention in this criminal case is "at odds" with the deal between the Public Prosecution Service and suspects.
“After all, this verdict is not only public, but will also be known through press publications in both the Netherlands and Curaçao. As a result, the general public, preferably the whole of society, is informed that certain actions are punishable, and the consequences are underlined. "This is not the only punishment goal, but according to the court it must be avoided that certainly with this kind of organized property crime" the impression arises that class justice is involved.
“After all, suspects do not live in poverty. If, for the laundering of hundreds of millions, forgery and scams, an agreed low sentence would be imposed on suspects, it cannot be ruled out that what is at odds with the objective of general prevention will be achieved."
The money laundering practices lasted more than thirteen years (from July 2004 to September 2017), during which the two Grynszteins forged documents, such as purchase invoices and receipts. The convicts used their company as a money-laundering machine for Venezuelans who supposedly bought lingerie, but actually bought cash dollars for which commission was paid; the so-called ‘swiping’.
Venezuelans bought goods on paper from the companies of the well-known Curaçao business family, but in reality, they received American dollars in cash. The same dollars were then traded on the black market at extortionate prices in Venezuela, where trade in foreign currencies was curbed.
