Alberto Chang-Rajii, a Chilean tech guru charged with fraud and who was arrested in Malta, has filed a constitutional application claiming that his arrest goes against human rights.

Chang was originally granted bail with a number of conditions and a deposit of €2,000. The man was arrested following a warrant issued by the Chilean authorities as the latter was accused of defrauding some $100 million from investors in his GrupoArcano business.

The Attorney General later filed an application before the criminal courts which upheld the request so that the accused is ordered to pay €98,000 in deposit instead of €2,000. Despite being financially able to pay the new sum, Chang was informed that the registrar of courts could not accept deposits in excess of €11,000. As a consequence of what the lawyers define as “arbitrary decision,” the applicant is still under lock and key. Lawyers appearing for the man are arguing that Chang is being detained unlawfully.

The accused had also filed an application before the criminal court requesting it to vary the said condition to an amount that suits the registrar of courts or alternatively, for the court to allow him to abide by the condition imposed by the court.

This request was rejected by the court in a decision taken on 14 December.

Chang is arguing that his detention goes against the law and on 15 December, he filed an application before the court of magistrates requesting his release.

However, the court had decided that the decision taken by the registrar not to accept cash in considerable amounts was not arbitrary and that the court has every right to exercise extreme caution in receiving cash. The court ruled that the court of magistrates decision was also “morally correct”.

It also deemed “inconceivable how the applicant is requesting or expecting the court to be oblivious to the anti-money laundering laws.” By its decision, the court registrar is making it clear that any funds that is ready to handle, “need to have a clean certificate of origin”, it said.

The applicant had argued that the courts can accept the cash while the authorities investigate the origin of the funds. Chang’s argument in this regard, did not hold, the court decided.

The Chilean national, who had also tried to buy citizenship on the island but was denied, insisted that his detention is unlawful, and that it goes against his human rights. The constitutional application goes on in saying that “the criminal court imposed a condition that it knew could not be met by the applicant.”

The application calls on the court to declare Chang’s arrest as in violation of Article 5 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Defence lawyer Stefano Filletti and Stephen Tonna Lowell signed the application.

Alberto Chang Rajii

Alberto Chang-Rajii had managed to raise millions from Miami investors with a tale of leaving Chile for Stanford University in the mid-1990s, where he said he met Larry Page and Sergey Brin and became an early Google investor. He became a board member at Endeavor Miami and regularly spoke at tech conferences and universities.

But in March, Miami New Times reported that his Stanford tale was bogus, as journalists back in Chile raised questions about whether his business was legit. As Chilean investigators closed in, Chang-Rajii abruptly fled to Malta and essentially disappeared. Chilean prosecutors later charged him with running a huge Ponzi scheme.

In an SEC complaint, the feds said he stole at least $7.4 million in the US as well by misrepresenting his credentials and failing to invest money in tech companies as promised. When he fled to Malta, he hid millions in overseas accounts, they say.