An alleged million-dollar scam in cryptocurrencies torments the Brazilian soccer players Gustavo Scarpa, Mayke and Willian Bigode, and has been attracting the attention of the press in Brazil for several days.
“I’ve always seen stupid people fall for pyramid schemes, scams, things like that. And seeing myself in a situation like this, for me, is horrible.”, says Scarpa, a Nottingham Forest player from England and declared the best player of the Brasileirao-2022, in a WhatsApp audio broadcast by the Fantástico program, on the Globo network.
The midfielder and Mayke, 30, filed complaints last November of an alleged scam by the Brazilian company Xland, in which they invested a large part of their assets with the promise of receiving returns of up to 5% per month, according to they reported to the civil police.
The footballers, who then shared at Palmeiras de Sao Paulo, went to the authorities after claiming their money in vain.
Scarpa claims the equivalent of US$1.2 million at the current exchange rate, while Mayke, one of the leaders of the São Paulo team, around US$762,000, according to the police statement.
The Seleção and Palmeiras goalkeeper, Weverton, would also have been harmed, although the goalkeeper has not commented, according to the outlet.
“There are indications that there was a crime of fraud”, said Glaucius Vinicius Silva, delegate of the civil police, to Fantástico.
Scarpa and Mayke claim to have invested in Xland on the recommendation of their former Palmeiran teammate Willian Bigode, currently at Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro.
But he assures that he is also a victim of Xland, which caused him a loss of about US$ 3.3 million between investment and returns.
“I’m not a scammer, I didn’t take anyone’s money. I am a victim because until today I did not receive my resourceshe said in a video posted Monday on Instagram.
Brasilia-based Xland declares itself a victim of the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in late 2022, denies Ponzi schemes and claims it will repay investors.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
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