A court in Brazil has sentenced three top executives of the company Braiscompany to a total of 171 years in prison. One of the convicted, Joel Ferreira de Souza, received a record sentence of 128 years, one of the longest terms for financial crimes in the country’s history.
This is reported by Finway
The company Braiscompany operated from June 2018 until early 2023, defrauding over 20,000 investors. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Brazil (MPF), the estimated total loss from the fraud reached 1.11 billion reais (approximately 190 million US dollars). The other two organizers received sentences of 15 years and 27 years and 10 months and 10 days, respectively.
Trial and Consequences
The court also decided to confiscate 36 million reais (about 6 million dollars), which were seized from the defendants. The question of whether the victims of the scheme will receive this money remains open.
This case is just part of a larger process related to the activities of Braiscompany. It lured investors with promises of up to 8% annual returns for depositing their crypto assets. In January 2023, the company halted payments, leading to the launch of a large-scale law enforcement operation called Operation Halving. During the operation, searches were conducted at the company’s offices, and its executives disappeared in Argentina.
Further Actions by Law Enforcement
In February 2024, the court sentenced two other organizers of the scheme — Antonio Aisa and Fabrícia Farias Campos — to 88 and 61 years in prison, respectively. They are currently under house arrest and awaiting extradition to Brazil. It is important to note that in 2023, the Brazilian division of Binance also came under scrutiny from authorities.