After extradition to Switzerland, a Brazilian citizen appeared to face allegations of $ 290 million bitcoin investment fraud at the US District Court in Seattle.
As Press release From the US Department of Justice, Dowar T. Braga requested not to be guilty for the 13-fold prosecution related to the wire fraud and conspiracy related to the Trade Coin Club (TCC) scheme.
Braga, 48, operated TCC from 2016 to 2021, mainly while living in Florida. The platform allegedly attracted the stage -based platform, attracting more than 126,000 members in 231 countries by promising returns through Bitcoin (BTC) trading software.
However, investigators found no evidence of any trading platform or software.
Bitcoin fraud included 82,000 BTCs
The prosecution suggests that investors assigned more than 82,000 bitcoins, which was more than $ 290 million during the investment period, to TCC.
Braga allegedly transferred these funds to at least $ 50 million to Bitcoin under his control between December 2016 and July 2019.
Acting American Attorney Til Luthi Miller depicted the operation as a traditional Ponzi plan, where early investors were paid using deposits from new participants. Braga promoted TCC globally, operating presentations in Thailand, Nigeria and Macau throughout 2017.
The plan began to appear at the end of 2017 when investors reported difficulties in reaching their funds. As of January 2018, TCC announced its termination of US operations and canceled user accounts, affecting several investors in the state of Washington.
Federal investigators shared the details of major tax evasion, in which Braga allegedly failed to report adequate cryptocurrency income:
- 2017: Bitcoin received $ 30.5 million, Income reported $ 152,298
- 2018: Bitcoin received $ 13.1 million, income reported $ 73,473
- 2019: Bitcoin received $ 10 million, reported $ 72,870 income
The defendant faces a count of a conspiracy to count 12 counting of wire fraud and wire fraud, each is sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in jail, if proved to be guilty.
The case is included in the growing list of major cryptocurrency fraud prosecutions. In December 2024, Argentina officials seized the $ 3.5 million USDT wallet associated with the Rainbow Trading Ponzi Yojana. They also froze additional crypto wallets and bank accounts of suspected participants.
In October 2024, 86 -year -old California’s Attorney David Kagal received a five -year probation and ordered to pay $ 13.94 million in restoration to operate a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, which cheated around $ 15 million investors who cheated around $ 15 million .
The series of prosecution focuses on the increasing law enforcement on cryptocurrency fraud in international courts. Agencies are collaborating and using various methods to track and seize the crypto involved in these financial offenses.
