Brazilian national faces sentence for $290m Bitcoin scheme

A Brazilian citizen appeared before the American district court of Seattle after Switzerland’s extradition to face $ 290 million in Bitcoin investment fraud.

According to the press release From the United States Ministry of Justice, Douver T. Braga pleaded not guilty to an indictment of 13 charges involving fraud by wire and a plot linked to the Coun Club program (TCC).

Braga, 48, operated TCC from 2016 to 2021, mainly by living in Florida. The platform, allegedly based in Belize, attracted more than 126,000 members in 231 countries by promising yields via Bitcoin (BTC) Trading software.

However, investigators found no evidence of a trading platform or existing software.

Bitcoin fraud involved 82,000 BTC

The accusation act reveals that investors have entrusted more than 82,000 bitcoins, valued at more than $ 290 million during the investment period in TCC.

Braga would have diverted these funds, transferring at least $ 50 million to Bitcoin to accounts under its control between December 2016 and July 2019.

The acting American lawyer, Teal, Luthy Miller, characterized the operation as a traditional program of Ponzi, where the first investors were paid using deposits of new participants. Braga promoted TCC on a global scale, making presentations in Thailand, Nigeria and Macao throughout 2017.

The program began to surface in late 2017 when investors declared difficulty accessing their funds. In January 2018, the TCC announced its cessation of American operations and canceled user accounts, affecting several investors in the Washington state.

Federal investigators shared the details of the major tax evasion, Braga would not have reported substantial cryptocurrency gains:

• 2017: received $ 30.5 million in Bitcoin, said $ 152,298 in income
• 2018: received $ 13.1 million in Bitcoin, said $ 73,473 in income
• 2019: received $ 10 million in Bitcoin, said an income of $ 72,870

The defendant faces 12 thread fraud charges and a conspiracy chief to commit fraud by wire, each leading to a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if she is proven guilty.

This case joins a growing list of main proceedings against cryptocurrency fraud. In December 2024, the Argentine authorities seized A $ 3.5 million USDT portfolio connected to the Ponzi Rainbowex Ponzi program. They also frozen additional cryptographic portfolios and the bank accounts of suspect participants.

In October 2024, California lawyer is radiated, David Kagel, 86, received Five years of probation and was ordered to pay $ 13.94 million on return for having exploited a cryptocurrency ponzi diet which has frauded investors of approximately $ 15 million.

The series of prosecution shows that the police are focusing more and more on cryptocurrency fraud in international jurisdictions. The agencies also collaborate and use various methods to monitor and enter the cryptography involved in these financial crimes.