Bitcoin pyramid schemes wreak havoc on Brazil's 'New Egypt'
Written by on July 13, 2023
The alleged scheme worked like this, according to prosecutors: Dos Santos would instruct clients to deposit their money – in cash to avoid further scrutiny – into bank accounts run by managing partners.
The money would then be transferred to dos Santos or his Venezuelan wife, Mirelis Yoseline Diaz Zerpa, who would either pocket it, use it to buy bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies as well as traditional financial assets, or pay off other members of the scheme.
CABO FRIO, Brazil (AP) – In April, Brazil’s federal police stormed the helipad of a boutique seaside hotel in Rio de Janeiro state, where they busted two men and a woman loading a chopper with 7 million reais ($1.3 million) in neatly packed bills.
Three months later another firm´s operator was targeted, his car hit by 40 bullets; he also survived. Rio state police have also linked two attempted killings to dos Santos and what they called his “extermination team.” On March 20, a trader known as Nilsinho was shot while driving his BMW through Cabo Frio.
He was severely injured but survived.
In and around Cabo Frio, where some had seen their friends and neighbors reap rewards by investing their life savings in the cryptocurrency investment firm G.A.S Consulting & Technology, many began to fear the cost of missing out. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)” class=”blkBorder img-share” style=”max-width:100%” />
Bathers dive into the waters of Fort Beach in Cabo Frio, Brazil, Wednesday, Dec.
15, 2021.
That year his company´s transactions totaled nearly 10 million reais ($1.8 million), 15 times higher than the previous year as money siphoned in and out of his bank accounts from all over Brazil, according to a federal police report.
The country´s financial intelligence unit also noticed the company – at the time registered as a restaurant – was regularly trading cryptocurrency on online exchange platforms. By 2017, dos Santos was starting to make serious money – and attract authorities’ attention.
G.A.S Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by Glaidson Acacio dos Santos, a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who is the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil’s biggest-ever pyramid schemes, was based in the beach town dos Santos called home. G.A.S Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by Glaidson Acacio dos Santos, a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who is the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil’s biggest-ever pyramid schemes, was based in the beach town dos Santos called home.
(AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
Beachgoers congregate on Fort Beach in Cabo Frio, Brazil, Wednesday, Dec.
15, 2021. G.A.S Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by Glaidson Acacio dos Santos, a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who is the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil’s biggest-ever pyramid schemes, was based in the beach town dos Santos called home. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)” class=”blkBorder img-share” style=”max-width:100%” />
