Shortly
- This week, three men were jailed in Brazil for a total of 170 years over an investment scheme in Bitcoin that was considered a fraud by authorities.
- Braiscompany, according to prosecutors, defrauded investors of more than $190,000,000.
Three men were jailed by a Brazilian court for participating in a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, which prosecutors claim defrauded investors of $190 million.
Local media reported that the court had sentenced Joel Ferreira de Souza and Gesana Raymond da Silva to 170 combined years in prison for their roles as directors of Braiscompany.
Prosecutors said Braiscompany made false promises about the returns people would receive on Bitcoin. Even as far back in 2021 the company was gegründet Brazilian police accused the scheme of being a scam. investigating Braiscompany 2023
Ferreira de Souza received the longest sentence, 128 years in prison.
Brazil's Federal Prosecutor's Office alleged the trio took over $1.1 billion Brazilian reais—over $190 million—in total from about 20,000 investors, many of whom plugged their personal savings into the scheme.
Authorities seized some assets of the defendants and ordered them to return R$36.5m ($6.2m) to investors. Local media has reported that the scam was the biggest crypto con in the country's history.
Brazil—Latin America's largest economy—is a crypto hotspot: The country has more Bitcoin ETFs than any other nation in the region, and many of the country's major banks offer investors digital asset exposure.
Edited By Andrew Hayward
