Jorge Lankenau

Jorge Lankenau Rocha (16 April 1944 – 16 June 2012) was a Mexican banker and businessman who was arrested in 1997 on fraud and tax evasion charges for shifting $179 million to the Cayman Islands and Paraguay and served eight years in prison.

He owned one of the largest Insurance Company in Mexico: Aba Seguros. He was also the former chief of Abaco Grupo Financiero and its bank unit, Banca Confia, in Mexico. He owned an investment bank "Rodman and Renshaw" which is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Lankenau was a great promoter of sports. He sponsored the Mexican National Soccer team for twelve years as well as the Guatemala National Team. He sponsored many local teams of Mexico including, Chivas, Cruz Azul, Tigres, Atlas, and Santos, among others. He also sponsored the Monterrey Sultanes, a local baseball team.

Lankenau owned Agua Sport, one of the biggest water companies in Mexico.

Lankenau was arrested on August 30, 1997 on suspicion of defrauding 250 people for a total of USD170 million. He was initially kept under house arrest in Monterrey, but was imprisoned in Topo Chico on November 17, 1997 and held there for 8 years, on charges of fraud, tax evasion, and offenses under the Mexican Ley de Instituciones de Crédito (Credit Institutions Act). On December 25, 2005 he was freed after paying MXN 53 million. In December 2003, he was granted a judicial pardon by 113 of the 250 complainants. He was trailed for 48 different charges but was found innocent for every single one.

The alleged fraud involved the use of off-shore banking tax havens in the Cayman Islands and Paraguay.

Lankenau was the chairman of the CF Monterrey football team, until his arrest.

He died on June 16th, 2012, at the age of 68.

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