There is no salvation this Easter period for global crypto fraudsters: A Brazilian judge issued a record prison to the man convicted of leading money laundering for Braiscompany, while in the United States, Securities and exchange of $ 198 million) and the US lawyer.
Brazil
In the first of these measures, Judge Vinícius Costa Vidor from the fourth federal court in Campina Grande, Brazil, money laundering Joel Ferreira de Souza 128 years behind bars in April 15.
De Souza was the financial master’s term behind the digital asset Ponzi schedule Braiscompany, whose 20,000 investors fraud of an estimated 1.11 billion reais (about $ 190 million). De Souza was convicted of using shell companies and proxy accounts to wash the fraud tests and got 128 years behind bars, one of the longest judgment ever handed over Economic crimes in Brazil.
Two other managers were also convicted: De Souza’s son, Victor Augusto Veronez de Souza, who got 15 years, and the top broker Gesana Rayane Silva, who was handed over 27 years and 10 months, along with previous beliefs that bring her a total of more than 40 years.
A joint amount of 36.5 million reais (approximately $ 6.3 million) was also set to compensate for investors for damage caused, according to Local media reports.
Colleagues Mizael Moreira Silva and Clélio Fernando Cabral Do Ó were acquitted on money laundering due to insufficient evidence.
Brafppany Promised investors each month’s return Of about 8% on digital assets “they locked up with the company for one year. But in December 2022, the company stopped paying customers, and a few months later, in February 2023, Pyramid schedule collapsed. In the same month, Brazil’s federal police launched a nationwide degradation, known as surgery half, and conducted search options at the company’s office.
The survey got Braiscompany’s founder, pair of Fabrícia Campos and Antônio Neto Ais, to flee to Argentina. They were arrested after more than a year on the go and are currently under house arrest and are waiting for extradition to Brazil.
Campos and AIS were Sentenced In the absence in February last year, with the former who got 61 years and 11 months and the latter 88 years and seven months; Eight others involved in Ponzi were also sentenced at that time.
The latest judgment against De Souza comes from a separate case focusing on Braiscompany’s money laundering operation.
SEC fees Palafox
In order not to be surpassed, on April 22, the US Sec Ramil Palafox accused orchestrating a fraudulent system that collected approximately $ 198 million from investors all over the world and abused more than $ 57 million in investors.
SEC’s complaint, which was submitted to the United States securities laws.
In accordance with to Sec claimed Palafox companies, known as PGI Global, to be foreign and Digital Asset Exchange trading company. Between January 2020 and October 2021, Palafox offered PGI Global “Membership” packages, which he claimed guaranteed investors high returns from PGI Global’s adopted digital assets and foreign exchange trading. He also offered the members “multi-level marketing-like” referral incentives to encourage them to recruit new investors.
However, SEC claims that Palafox incorrectly used more than $ 57 million in investment funds to buy Lamborghini’s, objects from luxury dealers and other personal expenses. He also used the majority of the remaining investment funds to pay other investors their alleged returns and referral rewards in a “Ponzi-like system” until its collapse at the end of 2021.
“Palafox attracted investors with the attraction of guaranteed profits from sophisticated crypto assets and currency trading, but instead of shopping, Palafox bought himself and its family cars, watches and homes with millions of dollars.” We will continue to investigate and take action against bad players.
The Sec complaint seeks permanent injunction, behavioral-based injunctions that prevent Palafox from participating in multiple level marketing programs that involve the offer or sale of securities and/or digital assets, dismissal of poor profit with pre-interest and civil penalties.
The complaint also called BBMR-threshold LLC, Darvie Mendoza, Marissa Mendoza Palafox and Linda Ventura as relief, and in the same way sought the waiver of their poor profits and pre-interest.
Laura D’Alrald, Head of Sec’s New cyber and new technology unit—The February set to focus on cyber-related misunderstandings and protect retail investors from bad players in the new technical space-as the charges said:
“Palafox used the costume of innovation to attract investors to feed their pockets with millions of dollars while leaving many victims empty-handed. In reality, his false statements about the crypto industry and an adopted AI-driven auto-trading platform were only masked an international securities fraud.”
In a parallel action, the US lawyer’s office for the eastern district of Virginia also accused Palafox for crime.
From ponzi to pigs slaughter
Global law enforcement and supervisory authorities’ definite efforts to beat digital asset-related Ponzi systems, such as Braiscompany and PGI Global, are now needed more than ever as profits from investment fraud continue to increase.
In accordance with To 2024 data from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), US consumers reported that they lost more than $ 12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, which is an increase of 25% compared to the previous year.
This is backed up by trends all over the world in the digital asset space. In 2024, the Blockchain analysis company Chedalas found that stolen funds in or through the digital asset sector had increased by about 21%, to $ 2.2 billion, between 2023 and 2024.
But the company’s research too noted That scammers are increasingly moving away from traditional, large-scale ponzi systems to more targeted systems. Specifically, ”Grissing“Represented” the most successful fraud and fraud. “
So-called “pig slaughtering” fraud (also known as romantic fraud) involves the direction of individuals-gers than groups of investors, who in most Ponzi system-where the fraudster will build a relationship, often romantic and gradually convince the victim to invest more and more money in fraudulent opportunities and investments.
This type of fraud increased almost 40% in 2024 from the previous year, and chain analysis claimed that the emergence of Artificial intelligence (AI) Technology helped this.
“We have also observed the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the fraud and fraud space, for example in very personal attacks of sextport,” mentioned the company. “This use of AI corresponds to a broader trend over a series of illegal cyber crime, as services have emerged that use AI to bypass KNOW-DIN customer requirements (KYC).”
Since loosely coordinated networks often run these increasingly popular pigs slaughter fraud and rely on volatile digital platforms and digital assetsThey can also be more difficult to track and prosecute than centralized fraud such as Ponzi systems. This means that law enforcement may need to increase its arsenal in the ongoing fight against digital assets.
Watch: It’s time for regulation to enable blockchain growth
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