Brazil’s federal police detained Cláudio Oliveira, the head of the Bitcoin Banco Group. In addition to some other members for embezzling 1.5 billion Brazilian reais ($300 million) using a cryptocurrency scheme, Coindesk reported.
Oliveira, the self-proclaimed “King of Bitcoin”, gets allegations of skimming copious amounts of money from a significant pool of investors.
Their Fishy Scheme
In 2019, the organization claimed that 7,000 Bitcoins had gone missing and sought judicial recovery. Under Brazilian law, this is a unique arrangement to reorganize its assets to compensate its creditors and avoid bankruptcy.
However, in early 2020, it was established that the group was not adhering to the obligations outlined in the judicial reorganization decree. Promoting its activities and attracting new customers continued to offer public collective investment contracts. All this without first registering with the market regulator.
The Police Report
The Police press release states that subsequently, they launched Operation Daemon. This comprised around 90 federal police officers in Curitiba and the Metropolitan Region. This was to apprehend the suspects and further investigate bankruptcy crimes, embezzlement, money laundering, and criminal organization.
The operation was based on intelligence obtained over a three-year inquiry into the group’s alleged involvement in fraudulent schemes and embezzlement.
Police’s Statement
The police added:
“Police investigations also revealed that the investigated person also committed, in the past, crimes of the same nature in the United States and possibly in other European countries. The investigative work in the field also made it possible to identify people suspected of concurring in the commission of the crimes under investigation.”
