In Brazil, a court has sentenced three organizers of the Braiscompany cryptocurrency pyramid, reports Livecoins. According to the court’s decision, they have been sentenced to a total of 171 years in prison.
This is reported by Business • Media
This scheme operated from June 2018 until early 2023, deceiving over 20,000 investors and causing estimated losses of around 1.11 billion reais (approximately 190 million dollars). According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Brazil, five individuals were involved in this case, two of whom were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The three others convicted are Joel Ferreira de Souza, one of the main organizers, his son Victor Augusto Verones de Souza, and the scheme’s largest broker, Gesana Rayane Silva.
Record Sentences and Asset Seizure
Joel Ferreira de Souza was sentenced to 128 years in prison, which, according to local media reports, is one of the longest sentences handed down for financial crimes in the country’s history. The other two received sentences of 15 and 27 years, respectively.
“The court also approved the seizure of 36 million reais (about 6 million dollars), previously confiscated from the individuals involved in the case. However, it is currently unknown whether the victims of the scheme will receive this money.”
Further Investigations and Police Operation
This is just one of several trials in the investigation of Braiscompany’s activities. The company lured investors with promises of earning 8% annually for depositing and locking crypto assets, but it stopped payments in January 2023.
A month later, the Brazilian police launched a large-scale operation called Operation Halving, conducting searches at the company’s offices, while its executives disappeared in Argentina. In February 2024, the court sentenced two other individuals, Antonio Aisa and Fabrícia Farias Campos, to over 88 and 61 years, respectively. They are under house arrest and awaiting extradition to Brazil.
It is worth noting that Braiscompany’s activities also drew the attention of authorities to the Brazilian division of the Binance exchange in 2023.