"Prosecutors launched an investigation into allegedly illegal commercial, business, financial and professional activities after they received a report from the Bank of Lithuania on allegedly criminal activities by people acting in the electronic space on behalf of MMM-2011," the statement said.
The Bank of Lithuania (central bank) asked prosecutors last week to investigate allegedly illegal activities of MMM-2011, set up in Lithuania by Russian citizen Sergey Mavrodi. The central bank also warned people against trusting their money to fraudsters.
The central bank said MMM-2011, having clear signs of a Ponzi scheme and offering very high returns for investments, violates Lithuanian laws as only banks and other credit institutions have the right to accept deposits from non-professional market players.
The Bank of Lithuania also turned to the country's main advertising agency associations asking them to warn their members about alleged criminal activities of MMM-2011 and ensure that its activities are not advertized.
According to media reports, financial fraudster Mavrodi announced establishment of new company MMM-2011 in Russia. He previously created a successful Ponzi scheme in 1994. The company started attracting money from private investors, promising annual returns of up to one thousand percent. By different estimates from 5 to 40 million people lost up to 10 billion US dollars.
Mavrodi was detained in Kiev last week.
