One of the great novelties of the 2021 season in La Barra had been the inauguration of Kaya Centera multispace of 1200 square meters that intended to become the VIP marijuana pole in east end. The property had an exclusive restaurant, a cafe, a patio with a stage for live shows, an art gallery, a cultivation space and a clinic specializing in medical cannabis. The promise was huge. However, just over a year after its opening, the pretentious project is going through a serious crisis that included the public escrache of one of the company’s owners: Arthur Rubinsteinan Argentine businessman who has a long and troubled career in the business world.
Despite his low profile, Rubinstein he is a man known among the rich and powerful. He is an accountant who completed a master’s degree at the University of Chicago, in the United States. His relatives say that experience helped him make contact with potential international partners. But the man also knew how to make local allies: the former Menemist minister and media businessman Joseph Louis Manzano not only is he his friend, but he was the “godfather” who opened the doors for him in the red circle.
However, a large part of the undertakings that he undertook Rubinstein They ended up in conflict. It happened while he worked with Antonio de la Rua and Shakiralater when associated with Marcelo Figoli to buy Rock & Pop and now with his big bet on cannabis tourism that led him to have problems even with one of his most powerful neighbors, Mark Galperinthe owner of Mercado Libre.
Cannabis and conflict in La Barra, in Punta del Este
The scandal of Kaya It was triggered by a union claim. The 18 employees who worked in the last season criticized him on networks and pointed him out as a “fraudster”, as well as two people he trusted and a man from India who lives in the United States and who was the big investor in the project, karan madam. “He decided to disassociate himself from Mr. Rubinstein due to differences in business criteria,” her spokeswoman told NOTICIAS.
On February 10, the date on which everyone should be paid, Rubinstein disappeared from Uruguay and Alexander Raven, the CEO of the company, resigned. The people left in charge kept the doors open. Kaya and they even organized a Valentine’s Day event, for which they had to go out looking for suppliers at the last minute since the previous ones also owed money. They were not the only ones affected since artists like “The Black” Rada and Motorized Santiago they would also have received bad checks.
in full tension, John Vazthe cannabis grower in charge of Kaya, told everyone: “I talked to Karam. They left them in balls and here there will be no money. He said we have to close”.
In Punta del Este, the version began to circulate that Rubinstein he had had to go to Buenos Aires for a serious personal problem. At the same time he told himself that she had actually run away. But when the escrache went viral, the employees of the Hub Porteño hotel, located in Recoleta, identified it. At the same time, close to Rubinstein they learned that a note was being worked on, and offered the employees to negotiate in exchange for not speaking further.
Wednesday 2, Rubinstein returned to Montevideo. She answered NEWS by phone and promised everyone that she was going to pay. “The company ran out of money and everything is going to be resolved. It was billed less than what was thought, ”he assured NEWS.
One of the reasons why Kaya What went wrong for him, according to Rubinstein, is that the opening of Kaya Beach Club, a parador that he intended to open in Playa Mansa, in José Ignacio, was frustrated. Along with a group of partners, he had won the tender, but it was contested by neighbors and local businessmen, among whom was Galperin.
One of the signatories of the challenge told NOTICIAS that “no one wants it because everyone knows that, where it is, the weather gets dense. Beyond that, it was strange that he won because here the tenders are based on scores that you obtain according to the gastronomic and economic proposal and because of your seniority. The other competitors had better proposals”.
RubinsteinInstead, he says that what happened was “an injustice”: “It was Galperín together with the owner of Globant, the owner of Frávega, Amalia Amodeo… they have the house opposite and they didn’t want it to be there.”
The businessman emphasizes that he put around 300 thousand dollars out of his pocket (the total investment was 2 million) to meet expenses since his partner disappeared, and that Kaya only closed temporarily since it will reopen shortly. In addition, he says that he has never had a problem with employees in the past.
However, his old employees and partners do not say the same. Francisco Beramendi He is one of the two owners of Toledo Bar de Tapas, the restaurant that operates within Kaya. “We made three contracts: one for the brand lease and two other individual ones: one with me and the other with my partner, to manage the restaurant from the previous season and until April 2022. The brand paid everything and for that, until April, he continues to have the cartel. But to us, after five months of work, he stopped paying us, ”he told NOTICIAS.
Lucrecia Abalos, another former employee, stopped charging in mid-2021 and, after several twists and turns, ended up resigning. She, in her arrangement, had gotten them to pay her what was owed through five checks. The last one, which was dated March 1, had no funds.
Fernanda Coutinho She is a cannabis doctor who worked at Kaya for the first three months. “They advertised that they had a clinic, but it was just an office,” she told NOTICIAS. She left with billing problems, the clinic closed and, when last week she joined the escrache of current employees, she told her networks that Kaya continued to advertise her with photographs from an image bank. “To another day they lowered it,” she added.
Past, partners and fights
“What Arturo does is confuse you. If you are not an expert, he confuses you because he is very smart with numbers. He can even tell you that he resolved the debt”, says someone who shared with him the times of Antonito and Shakirawhen Rubinstein advised them.
Rubinstein claims to be the ideologue of the Alas Foundation, the solidarity organization of Shakira. Plus, she brags about helping her set up the structure on Bonds Cay, her private island in the Bahamas.
Rubinstein and Antonito they never spoke again. “I wouldn’t say that the separation was due to Arturo or anything less, but he didn’t help. She came to accuse him of having made scams with a company that she had with Tony and in which Shaki had put money, “said the same source. According to Rubinstein’s version, the fight was over the handling of Alas.
So close were Rubinstein and Antonito that during the “Bahama Papers” it was learned that both had shared partnerships. “That was an injustice. It was sold as if it had been an offshore structure, but at that time I lived in the Bahamas”, Arturo defends himself.
Years later there was also a failed attempt in the Argentine media. In August 2017 it was announced that an investment fund, in which he participated, was going to buy FM Rock & Pop. Shortly after, there was a massive dismissal. According Rubinsteinhe only had 10% and the big boss was always Marcelo Figoli. “I left when the pandemic started because they wanted to suspend salary payments and I didn’t,” she assured. In Fígoli’s environment, they do not keep good memories of his former partner.
Defenders of Rubinstein they acknowledge that he was the first in the region to invest in recreational cannabis: “Nobody is encouraged and what he did with Kaya is good. He took marijuana out of the fringes and installed it in an exclusive circuit”, they say. The truth is that the businessman has logical concerns about his image: regulations on cannabis are advancing and anyone with money knows that in this business the big difference will be made by those who arrive first.
