Brazil And US Authorities Seize $24 Million In Crypto

The Brazil and US authorities managed to seize up to $24 million in cryptocurrency which was generated by a lucrative online scam as we are reading more in today’s crypto news.

Both the Brazil and US authorities cooperated to seize the stolen crypto funds. the investigation led by Brazil requested assistance from American law enforcement. It is estimated that over $200 million was given by unsuspecting victims. American and Brazilian law enforcement authorities seized a total of $24 million in crypto that was generated through an online fraud scheme. The investigation was named “Operation Egypto” who managed to track down Marcos Antonio Fagundes. He has been charged with the operation of a financial institution without having the needed legal authorization, fraudulent management of the financial institutions, money laundering, and violating securities law.

It is alleged that Fagundes as well as the co-conspirators used the internet to solicit investments from their victims into new financial opportunities. These people would then part with their funds in the forms of both Brazilian fiat currency or cryptocurrency, much of which was later used to fill the pockets of Fagundes and his associates. The US Department of Justice said:

“To carry out the scheme, the conspirators are alleged to have made false and inconsistent promises to investors about the way the funds were invested and exaggerated the rates of return.”

The collaborative effort by both nations was conducted under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Treaty and it is now estimated that tens of thousands of investors poured more than $200 million.

As previously reported, Basically, all Brazilian banks that have denied service to crypto companies are now under scrutiny by local authorities. The report shared by Folha de São Paulo talks about this in detail. Published on May 20, we can see that the report targets the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) which voted to reopen the case against all local lenders in the country who refuse to work with crypto firms. As we can see, the lawsuit was initially filed in 2018 by the Associação Brasileira de Criptoativos e Blockchain (ABCB) which is a blockchain nonprofit based in Sao Paulo. This was done after the Banco do Brasil (one of the banks in the country) closed the account of the cryptocurrency exchange Atlas because of an “administrative decision.”