MONTEVIDEO - An Uruguayan court ordered pre-trial detention for the founder of a collapsed suspected Ponzi scheme that encouraged investment in cattle in a country with three times as many cows as people.
Conexion Ganadera went belly-up last year owing tens of millions of dollars to thousands of investors.
A court ordered one of its founders, Pablo Carrasco, to be detained until February 10 next year while investigations continue into fraud and money laundering, the prosecutor's office said.
House arrest was ordered for his wife Ana Iewdiukow, along with the widow of another founding partner.
Uruguay is cattle country: beef is its main export commodity and there are more than three cows for each human inhabitant -- the highest number per capita in the world.
Uruguay also vies with neighbour Argentina for the position of top beef consumer per capita -- at more than 40 kilograms per person per year.
Media reports say Conexion Ganadera took people's money with promises to invest it in cattle, with profits to be split with the farmers.
Much of the money was allegedly used for other purposes, and prosecutors suspect it may have been a Ponzi scheme.
Two other firms that made similar investment promises have also collapsed in Uruguay -- with about 7,000 investors affected in the three cases.
"It is still unknown where all the money is," prosecutor Enrique Rodriguez said.
"The people call it fraud, but it's theft -- they stole our savings," investor Silvia Bello told AFP at a protest outside the court in Montevideo.
The court ordered real estate and vehicles worth some $16-million to be frozen in the Conexion Ganadera case -- a fraction of the estimated $250-million that has gone missing.