Founded in 1980 by Albertino de Figueiredo, a Portuguese national living in Spain, the group is headquartered in Madrid and has offices in many other cities, including Barcelona, Vigo, Valladolid and Lisbon.
In May 2006,[1] police in Spain made several arrests, closed offices and confiscated material in connection with a large-scale suspected fraud operation involving two companies Afinsa Bienes Tangibles and Forum Filatélico and affecting the life savings of over 350,000 private investors in Spain.
The company published a note on its website reassuring its clients and employees that it was cooperating with authorities in order to prove its innocence.
The company has been accused of operating a Ponzi fraud scheme, using the money from new investors to pay the returns on previous investments.
Such investment is overseen by the Consumption departments of the regional governments instead of the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores.