This was a huge scam that caught a lot of people here in Boquete with their pants down.  I constantly said that this firm was a scam and people would loose their money and some did and some lost millions.  Here is a Eric Jackson’s comment from The Panama News and I totally agree with him.

The former directors of the closed COACECSS credit union are being formerly charged with financial crimes. Some may recall that I was much maligned for warning that their CDs with the fabulous rates of return being sold by thuggish foreigners for this credit union were almost surely bogus. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If some particular members of the usual good ole boys are vouching for it, it almost certainly is. But a lot of more sensible and honorable people were hoodwinked, too. (I think that it’s mainly because once upon a time this credit union had earned a good reputation in some places, before it was led astray into the world of ponzi schemes.) But WHY, with all of this hue and cry about foreigners, are those who were selling these CDs in the gringo community not being prosecuted, or in the cases where they are not Panamanian citizens, thrown out of Panama?