Three investors have sued the recently shut-down Money Express Financial Services Ltd and investor Ricardo Azan, to recover more than $17 million which they claimed they invested in the company.

They are Richard Preston; Elizabeth Dudhu, a businesswoman; and Dorothy Gardener, a housewife.

Preston and Gardener are contending that they loaned Azan $13.9 million between April and December 2007.

Dudhu is suing for $3.4 million she allegedly loaned to Azan in March 2007 to invest overseas.

Suing for breach of contract

The claimants are seeking damages for breach of contract. They are asking the Supreme Court to make a ruling that Azan and Money Express, of which former parliamentarian Richard Azan is a director, had failed to manage with a duty of care the money loaned to them, resulting in loss and damages to them.

They are seeking an order from the Supreme Court to freeze the assets of Money Express until the suit has been heard.

Investors were required to pay a minimum of US$25,000 (J$1.75 million) to join the investment scheme, managed by Ricardo Azan.

Last month, the Bank of Jamaica suspended the cambio operating licence issued to Money Express in the wake of investment scheme operator Ricardo Azan linking the company indirectly to his failed operation during a meeting with investors in early January.

Bad deals

On January 10, he apologised to the more than 190 investors for the failure and explained that, in June and July last year, some bad deals went down. He said he was going to put together a highly reputable group of people to advise him on the best way forward.

Ricardo Azan later distanced himself from Money Express, saying he was in no way connected to it. He said he merely bought foreign exchange from the organisation. Money Express provided remittance and cambio services in Kingston and Portmore, St Catherine.

The Financial Services Commission had said it was gathering information on the investment scheme and Money Express.

Ricardo Azan told The Gleaner recently that he had been trading millions of his investors' dollars in Europe and had been giving them returns of between 40 and 60 per cent, per deal.

Last night calls made by The Gleaner to Ricardo Azan's phone were sent straight to voicemail. His voicemail had no space to accommodate messages.