The Rise and Fall of InterBolsa

InterBolsa was a pioneering online brokerage firm that revolutionized the way people invested in the Brazilian stock market. It was founded in 1996 as a joint venture between several major Brazilian banks.

The company quickly gained popularity due to its user-friendly platform and competitive fees. By 2000, InterBolsa had become the largest online brokerage firm in Brazil, with over 100,000 registered users.

However, InterBolsa's success was short-lived. The company faced intense competition from other online brokerages and was eventually acquired by a larger financial institution.

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InterBolsa has been marred by a major scandal known as the "Escándalo de Interbolsa". This scandal involved the diversion of millions of dollars from the company's "Fondo Premium" for personal use by its executives.

The perjury is estimated to be over $340 billion pesos, affecting over 1,200 investors and leading to the company's bankruptcy. The Superfinanciera intervened and the company was eventually shut down.

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Tomás Jaramillo and Juan Carlos Ortiz, members of InterBolsa's board of directors, were sent to prison for their involvement in the scandal. Rodrigo Jaramillo, the former president of InterBolsa, was also sentenced to prison and ordered to pay a fine of $7 billion pesos.

Jaramillo and Ortiz were sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2017, with the option of serving their sentence at home due to Jaramillo's advanced age.

The Interbolsa scandal has been shrouded in mystery since its collapse in November 2012.

The firm was once the largest in Colombia, but its liquidation has led to allegations of money laundering and criminal behavior that could make this case one of the biggest scandals in Colombian finance history.

A suspect in the case, Carlos Leyton Sinisterra, has been accused of laundering money for organized crime groups in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Leyton has also been linked to the organization of Daniel "El Loco" Barrera, a captured Colombian drug trade kingpin.

The Interbolsa case has been ongoing since its collapse, with allegations continuing to build against the firm and those involved.

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InterBolsa's transformation into a holding company began in 2009.

Until 2008, InterBolsa operated as a loosely integrated conglomerate with a controlling interest in several smaller companies, each specializing in a different region or product.

In 2009, InterBolsa acquired Finabank for US$21 million, marking its entry into the Brazilian market.

Here's a brief timeline of InterBolsa's major milestones:

Grupo InterBolsa was formed in 2009 after acquiring Finabank for US$21 million, allowing it to officially organize itself as a holding company.

The company had operated as a loosely integrated conglomerate until 2008, with a controlling interest in various smaller companies specializing in different regions or products.

Some of the types of companies under Grupo InterBolsa's umbrella include investment companies, investment banks, and venture capital firms.

These different types of companies were a result of the conglomerate's diverse interests and investments over the years.

Here are some of the specific types of companies under Grupo InterBolsa's umbrella:

It's hard to believe it's been six years since Interbolsa's collapse.

More than six years have passed since the Colombian government ordered the liquidation of Interbolsa in November 2012.

The case remains unresolved, leaving 492 victims, including individuals and legal entities, who claimed 254,000 million pesos, but only recovered 65,000 million pesos.

The statute of limitations expired for three crimes against the main parties involved: Alessandro Corridori, Claudia Jaramillo, María Eugenia Jaramillo; Álvaro Tirado, Carlos Arturo Neira, and Tomás Villadiego.

Fabricato's stock price skyrocketed from $26 at the beginning of November 2010 to $91 on November 1, 2012, thanks to Interbolsa's risky business strategy.

Interbolsa's fall was largely due to a highly risky business strategy that went wrong, as explained by Diego Agudelo Rueda, director of the Finance and Banking Research Group at Universidad Eafit.

The firm used a "term mismatch" and "repo" operations to invest in Fabricato's shares, without proper control plans and financial backing.

The regulatory authorities failed to investigate the suspicious increase in Fabricato's shares, which had a disproportionate increase in a short time.

The scandal was uncovered when the BBVA Bank denounced that it didn't cancel a loan of 17,000 million pesos.