A fraud case against businessman Alberto Chang Rajii in Malta has renewed hope among victims of an alleged multimillion-dollar scam 7,000 miles away in his native Chile.

Rafael Gomez, a lawyer representing 182 people who say they were cheated by Chang Rajii, told Times of Malta they hope he will be deported from Malta “so he could have his day in court here in Chile”.

Chile’s Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren Stork also referred to possible deportation if Chang Rajii is found guilty of defrauding a Maltese hotel of €5,000. 

In Chile, Chang Rajii is accused of a bigger crime: running a Ponzi scheme worth over $80 million that left investors including high-profile celebrities high and dry.

“This is a very important case in Chile. What happened was the biggest scam in our country’s history,” Gomez said.

Chang Rajii, 50, is the founder of Grupo Arcano, which he set up along with his mother and sold itself as an international private equity and venture capital firm. 

Described by Chilean media as the mind behind Chile’s “largest ever pyramid scheme”, Chang Rajii managed to convince around a thousand people to invest with him.

His investment firm Onix promised investors soaring returns such as 1.5 per cent a month for an investment of 200 million pesos ($300,000), according to Bloomberg, who said it had seen a contract. 

Investors included several celebrities such as television host Jose Miguel Viñuela, actress Josefina Montané, gymnast Tomás González, and 90-year-old painter Mario Toral.

Part of Chang Rajii’s allure was the image of success he portrayed. 

He was often photographed with celebrities including Richard Branson, Ricky Martin and Stephen Hawking.

The large figure allegedly defrauded, and the high-profile status of some clients meant Chang Rajii has garnered a lot of attention in Chile where a docudrama was produced about his life.  

But when questions about his investments and some of his other claims began to surface in the spring of 2016, the Chilean investor moved to Malta. 

“Warned of what he could face, he chose a jurisdiction that does not have an extradition treaty with Chile, so he went to Malta,” Carlos Gajardo who investigated Chang, told television station CHV Noticias. 

Chilean news outlets repeatedly describe Chang Rajii as living a life of luxury in Malta while he was wanted in his home country. 

He applied for a Maltese passport under the Individual Investor Programme but failed after the acquisitions in Chile became known. 

In a Times of Malta interview the same year, Chang said he had been subjected to a trial by media and that his company had only been forced into default because Chilean prosecutors seized his assets on unproven charges.

Chang Rajii’s mother, who co-founded the company, however, has been charged and convicted of fraud. 

Chile asked Malta to extradite Chang Rajii in 2016 but Malta refused the request two years later after a court of criminal appeal ruling. 

But now he is in trouble with the law in Malta, after an alleged victim saw a notification on his phone about a €500 transfer to a hotel – a payment that he had neither made nor authorised. 

Hotel employees pointed the finger at Chang Rajii and he was recently charged over a series of fraud charges.  

Chang Rajii was also charged with aggravated theft, being in possession of items related to fraud and for using a counterfeit “non-corporeal non-cash payment instrument” ‒ the cloned copy of the victim’s credit card. 

The defence said it would not be requesting bail at this state, given that the accused has no fixed address and no money. 

There is now hope that if Chang Rajii is found guilty in Malta, he can be deported back to Chile and face his alleged victims there, Gomez told Times of Malta. 

“Some of the victims are in a very good economic situation, but others come from more humble social classes,” Gomez said. 

Van Klaveren Stork said since he has been accused of crimes committed in Malta, Chang Rajii could be deported back to Chile if found guilty.

“As he would have committed a crime in Malta, there is the possibility of deportation, and deportation would be a much faster and effective procedure than going through an extradition process,” he said.

The Maltese fraud case made headlines across Chile. 

Flavia Cordella, a journalist who was reporting for TVN Chile in Malta this week, said Chang’s alleged victims are passionate about getting their money back.