Hello MiaJen,Not sure who the bad guys are - it would seem people driving the clients to lawyers; like the newspapers ? This case has become a source of earning for a lot of people. If the cases go on, the lawyers are the winners and if Sydney is deported, the lawyers are still the winners. It is the clients who loose - they don’t get anything.
I say this because, I took a short trip to Goa during this EID weekend and came back with a different perspective. Spoke to a few locals (I remember the names Pedro and Salu), who think the guy is being framed esp when they read about 007 in the National. They say lots of loop holes in the article. In their opinion, if the newspapers had not instigated clients, they would have got their money by now. It so happened that Pedro has a son in Dubai and among the first 25 clients (just my luck!). Even when the business was very small, he got his interest on time…. It was just during Nov of 2015 that trouble started. He says if it was a ponzi scheme, money would have been slow in coming especially during the first few years. The business ran into some rough times (like every business) and the clients should have been patient. Perhaps he is right. He also mentioned while there are a few impatient clients, he knows a few old clients, who are willing to reinvest, once the company affairs get back to normal. He doesn’t think there is anything wrong with the business.
This makes a lot of sense, coming from a local and someone who sees the story in a different light.
To answer your question
The bad guys are the people that played any part in running the Ponzi and stealing your money.
Then there are the wolves. Those are the people who come out afterwards to feed on the carcass of the victims - usually they are the lawyers and receivers
I can't comment on the trip you took or who you talked to.
The truth is usually the first casualty of war.
I imagine that Pedro and Salu were both very devoted investors who get their information from somewhere and I am guessing the info they got was probably from an employee at Exential who they trusted.
I really can't comment any further as to how realistic those comments were, but if that was the case then Sydney Lemos would not likely be in jail right now.
It is very common for victims to be misled. It happens this way most times. The bad guys convince the victims that the only reason the business got shut down was because the government came in and interfered and froze the bank accounts - or there would never have been a problem.