A Brazilian court condemned three executives behind the collapsed cryptographic scheme Braiscompany at 171 years of prison, concluding one of the largest cryptographic fraud cases in the country to date.
Federal judge Vinicius Costa Vidor found Joel Ferreira de Souza, the alleged intellectual author of the scheme, guilty of operating a financial institution without a license and washing millions through ghost companies and unregulated cryptographic wallets, according to local media.
De Souza received the most pronounced prayer: 128 years after bars. Two others, Gesana Rayane Silva and Victor Veronez, received 27 and 15 years, respectively, for their roles in cash management and act as intermediaries in the scheme.
The ruling occurs after the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) of Brazil accused five people of orchestrate a pyramidal structure that raised R $ 1.11 billion ($ 190 million) of approximately 20,000 investors.
Braiscompany promised huge yields through cryptography trade, but supposedly carried out a parallel financial system using informal transfers and high commission operations.
The court also ordered the seizure of R $ 36 million, although it is not clear how much the victims will recover. According to Artêmio Picanço, a lawyer who represents several victims, those affected must present civil claims shortly before the State absorbs the funds.
Two defendants were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The rest, the judge ruled, “acted to disguise the illicit origin” of money, executing operations that imitated legitimate investment practices but served to enrich experts.
