Avocado Ponzi Swindle
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A preliminary hearing is scheduled next week to determine whether a Perris woman accused of multiple acts of fraud in a Ponzi scheme built around an avocado business should stand trial.
Consuelo Carrasco Ramirez, 53, was arrested last week following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation that began in April.
Ramirez, also known as “Consuelo Zeferina,” is charged with six counts of obtaining money by false pretenses, as well as a sentence-enhancing white collar crime allegation.
The defendant pleaded not guilty during her arraignment Friday, when Superior Court Judge Gary Polk set a preliminary hearing for Sept. 5 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. The hearing will determine whether she should be bound over for trial on all counts.
Ramirez is being held at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning in lieu of $225,750 — the sum she’s accused of stealing.
According to sheriff’s investigators and court documents, from September 2023 to January 2025, the defendant allegedly defrauded six people, identified only by their initials — “A.L.,” “F.L.,” “M.R.,” “O.S.,” “P.U.” and “V.A.”
Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Fisher said Ramirez claimed to be operating in a profitable “wholesale avocado business” and allegedly snared the victims by holding out the promise of high returns if they invested in it.
Instead of using their money for a business venture, however, she pocketed most of it, using only the amounts necessary to keep initial investors happy while others were drawn in — a classic Ponzi scheme — Fisher alleged.
“Ramirez often targeted members of the Hispanic community and, in some cases, threatened to have them deported,” the sergeant said.
One of the victims ultimately reported the alleged scam to authorities, culminating in the investigation which identified the others.
The largest amount lost in the scheme was $87,630, put up by O.S., court papers alleged.
Ramirez has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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