Bitcoin pyramid schemes wreak havoc on Brazil's 'New Egypt'

In hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The Associated Press, federal and state police and prosecutors accuse dos Santos and his associates of running a sophisticated racket defrauding thousands of small-scale investors who believed they were getting rich off Bitcoin´s steep appreciation. He is now in a Rio jail awaiting trial on charges including racketeering, financial crimes and 币安交易手续费 ordering the murder and attempted murder of two business competitors. He remains under investigation in the attempted murder of a third competitor. Regis, a lawyer representing victims of G.A.S Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who has become the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil’s biggest-ever pyramid schemes. Lawyer Luciano Regis, 35, during an interview in Sao Pedro da Aldeia, Brazil, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021. Regis, a lawyer representing victims of G.A.S Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who has become the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil’s biggest-ever pyramid schemes. Regis, a lawyer representing victims of G.A.S Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who has become the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil’s biggest-ever pyramid schemes. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado) Clients were promised a 10% monthly return on their investments over 12- to 48-month contract periods, but did not own the bitcoins they were told G.A.S. was purchasing with their money. And, they were assured, it was risk-free: They would get their entire initial investment back at the end of the contract. The true tally is likely much higher, said Luciano Regis, a lawyer representing dozens of victims. He said one of his clients enlisted her husband, mother, brother, sister-in-law and an 82-year-old aunt, investing a total 822,000 reais (about $150,000). 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. In Cabo Frio, dos Santos’ success inspired other budding entrepreneurs to follow in his footsteps — not to mention those of Charles Ponzi, who died nearby in a Rio de Janeiro hospital charity ward in 1949. The Italian immigrant who engineered one of the largest scams in U.S. history in the 1920s was buried in a public Rio cemetery with his last $75. Beachgoers congregate on Fort Beach in Cabo Frio, Brazil, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021.