In Brazil, the court passed a verdict in the case of three organizers of the cryptocurrency financial pyramid Braiscompany. The defendants were sentenced to a total prison term of 171 years, informs Livecoins.
The company operated from June 2018 until early 2023, after which it ceased operations. According to Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), more than 20,000 people were victims of the fraud scheme, with total losses estimated at 1.11 billion Brazilian reals (approximately $190 million).
Five people were on trial, two of them were acquitted due to lack of evidence. Joel Ferreira de Souza, one of the main organizers, his son Victor Augusto Verones de Souza, as well as the leading broker of the company, Gesana Rayane Silva, were sentenced.
Joela de Souza was sentenced to 128 years in prison, one of the longest in Brazilian history for financial crimes. His son got 15 years, and Gesan Silva got 27 years, 10 months and 10 days. In addition, the court ordered the confiscation of 36 million reais (about $6 million), which were seized as part of the investigation. However, it is currently unknown whether these funds will be returned to the victims.
This verdict is only part of a larger case concerning the activities of Braiscompany. The company promised investors 8% per annum for placing and blocking cryptoassets, but stopped payments in January 2023. In February 2023, the Brazilian police launched a large-scale operation called Operation Halving, during which they searched the offices of Braiscompany. Then the company’s managers fled to Argentina.
In February 2024, two more members of the scheme, Antonio Aysa and Fabricio Farias Campos, were sentenced to more than 88 and 61 years, respectively. They are currently under house arrest awaiting extradition to Brazil.
It is worth noting that as a result of the investigation of the activities of Braiscompany in 2023, the attention of the authorities was also focused on the Brazilian division of the crypto exchange Binance.
