A Venezuelan law firm and a German pharmaceutical company posted a similar statement on their website last week. They claimed they had nothing to do with JuicyFields, an investment pyramid scheme that guaranteed returns of up to 66% to its clients in just three months.
ElDiario.es has exposed the house of cards on which this project was built, revealing its shady practices. They’ve attracted tens of thousands of investors since then, and it seems like their money’s been stolen by the people in charge of the company. Now they’re all wondering where the founders went and how they’ll be able to get their money back.
JuicyFields, despite all of the warnings from experts, allowed investors to invest in the company with a few clicks. It was also easy to achieve within minutes and did not require any documentation to invest. The investment was supposedly for the cultivation of marijuana plants in legal companies. However, after 108 days, it became clear that the entire thing was a scam. JuicyFields brought profit and years of success to its investors but couldn’t avoid being a pyramid scheme
The announcement released by a law firm and pharmaceutical company was the start of days as investors watched live to see how the project would unfold.
On Monday, JuicyFields launched an email to investors in which they said that some of the workers went on strike. The cash withdrawals were then frozen and they guaranteed a suspension would only last 48 hours. On Wednesday, all JuicyFields social networks were deleted, as well as Telegram groups – moderated by company employees – where all the investors were. CEO Willem van der Merwe resigned on Thursday after less than two months in office.
Three hours later, the final alarm went off. Investors were no longer able to access their personal online accounts and track the progress of their factories, depending on how much money they had. Dozens of clients consulted agreed on the same fear: they all saw fraudulent activity unfolding in front of them.
JuicyFields has suffered losses worth millions of euros. Thousands of clients have been trapped on the website and now face losing money. The ones left stranded can account for at least 50,000 euros. Some victims lost their life savings.
“I entered a year ago with $1,000 and withdrew over $1,500 four months later,” the investor said over the phone. He explained that after his first investment was a success, he reinvested all his money again. “At the end of April, I asked for a loan of 20,000 Euros and invested all my money in JuicyFields,” he stated. He claims that his goal was to receive 100,000 Euros for entering the investment.
Juicy Fields has been having some troubles with its website and customers are waiting for a resolution. To put everyone at ease, company managers have been giving assurances that the issues will be resolved within 48 hours, but that didn’t happen. Right now there’s no word on who is in charge of Juicy Fields.
Investors are actively seeking startups in the newly created Russian Telegram groups, which has led to many users filing formal complaints with the local police. More than 6,000 people have signed up for the Spanish-language group within just three days, and most reporting indicates how much panic has spread among those in contact with these investors.
Suspicious Company
News leaked on May 6 that elDiario.es had already exposed all the lies and inconsistencies presented by this company and the use of bank accounts in tax havens. European regulators – Spain, Netherlands, and Germany – then issued warnings about the lack of legitimacy for this project and recommended not to invest in it.
The company continued to spend thousands of euros on advertising campaigns, events, and luxury parties with rented Lamborghinis. Instead of attracting new investors who would want to be a part of the company’s ostentatious lifestyle, these investments met resistance from these prospective investors.
The newspaper also reported that many of the commercial agreements that JuicyFields announced with major companies in the cannabis sector turned out to be false. Some multinationals said they had never even dealt with a company with headquarters that were constantly changing over the past two years. Fears started to spread among investors, who eventually learned that an investment in Juicy Fields is a textbook pyramid scheme.
The recent months of development as well as the aftermath of elDiario.es’ report indicate that the company may be faltering. The previous CEO recently stepped down, multiple employees resigned, and other resignations were rumored in early July. Over the past week, a dozen more employees deleted their social media profiles and Michael Spring’s LinkedIn went from listing JuicyLeagues to claiming he was with MediaMarkt for years.
Despite a string of layoffs, in recent months the company has tried to show that it continues to grow disproportionately: it touted new business deals with companies, announced it had reached half a million customers, and even hosted an investor “business strategy” contest in which the winner would receive 250,000 dollars. Everything was smoke.
The newspaper tried to contact JuicyFields. Former communications director Star Laurie referred us on Wednesday to CEO Willem van der Merwe, who resigned the next day and did not respond. On Friday, Laurie changed her story and this resulted in a broken phone connect with us.
Because we haven’t received any further official communication, this makes it difficult for us to have an official representative. At the moment, many people created different groups on Telegram where rumors and panic were generated. While we don’t know which are true and which aren’t, there is a lot of news that’s difficult to digest.
Who is behind the scam?
At the time of its inception, no one knew exactly who owned JuicyFields, and various executives lobbied for transparency at the company. However, these assurances were met with concern as little information was provided to enable accountability. But following a public inquiry into the company in April last year, more information became available.
The company has caused confusion by trying to eliminate traces of the people who appeared under their first and last names on their website.
On Wednesday, the JuicyFields team page was taken down and the names of the people involved were unavailable. They came back online a few hours later with new directors, but all the old ones had been removed. Filling in for them? Two brothers who happen to be named as co-owners and lawyers on the company’s legal documents.
Many people believe that the Luxembourg royal family is associated with the von Luxburg brothers. The former is listed in a Swiss trade register as chairman of JuicyFields (of which he is also the owner) while the latter is listed as a lawyer who heads his own law firm in Venezuela.
The two brothers confirmed to this newspaper that they had been victims of a scam and said they would release an official statement soon. Unfortunately, the journalist who spoke to them was unable to verify their identity.
JuicyFields, a cannabis company based in Germany that issued a distancing statement from the German pharmaceutical company that made it, has gone on to deny all claims of a relationship with the original company. The German cannabis firm announced a multimillion-euro deal with an investment group at the beginning of April, and a website where they appeared to confirm the news recently has disappeared from their website history.
JuicyFields was a confusing and complicated project from the beginning. It’s now shrouded in an even thicker and more obscure nebula as thousands of small investors are scammed. There is only one thing that seems clear: they will be unable to get their money back.