Officials searched 33 apartments and business addresses in Germany, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, as police and public prosecutors in Berlin jointly announced on Friday. Arrest warrants were issued for a 55-year-old and a 60-year-old.
The “Juicy Fields” platform is said to have offered so-called e-growing since 2020, in which investors were supposed to participate in the cultivation, harvest and sale of medical cannabis plants via virtual greenhouses. However, in reality the plants are said not to have existed at all. Rather, it was a large-scale pyramid scheme, the investigative authorities said on Friday.
645 million euros
According to previous evaluations, almost 190,000 investors are said to have paid a total of around 645 million euros to “Juicy Fields”. The fraud victims are said to live in 35 countries. There had already been searches of those suspected of being responsible for the platform in Berlin in August 2022. The evaluation of the documents and data confiscated at the time was the reason for the current searches, explained the police and public prosecutor’s office.
Thirty-one people are now being investigated – initially there were twelve. In addition, numerous other suspected victims have filed reports since 2022.
