- Braiscompany fraudsters sentenced to 171 years for $220M scheme.
- Joel de Souza gets 128 years; accomplices sentenced.
- $36M seized, transferred to Brazilian government.
Brazil’s federal court has sentenced three people tied to the defunct crypto firm Braiscompany to a combined total of 171 years in prison in one of the country’s most severe crackdowns on financial fraud.
Joel de Souza Sentenced for Crypto Fraud
The local media reports have identified Joel Ferreira de Souza as the main plotter of the scheme and sentenced him to prison for 128 years, 5 month,s and 28 days. Eleven total counts of money laundering convicted him. Authorities said de Souza made illicit finances through a network of shell companies that used off the books cryptocurrency to attract investors and guarantee them high returns.
Brais company broker Gesana Rayane Silva was sentenced to 27 years in prison. The court found that she was in charge of moving and facilitating unlawful financial transfers through the physical transportation of cash. At the same time, through his mediator Victor Augusto Veronez de Souza, the son of the primary defendant, also received a 15-year sentence for his involvement in the management of businesses used to launder criminal proceeds.
Brazil Seizes R$36 Million in Assets
The sentences come after federal judge Vinicius Costa Vidor ruled that the defendants played a role in a complex, highly organized financial operation. Over R$1.11 billion ($220m) was allegedly pulled in from somewhere behind the iron curtain in Brazil, drawn from almost 20,000 investors. The court likened Braiscompany to a deliberately created parallel financial system aimed at obscuring the source and flow of investor funds.
Two other people who were charged were also let off because of a lack of evidence during the proceedings, as reported in the same ruling. In addition, the seizure of assets totaling R$36 million accumulated during the investigation was ordered to be permanently transferred from the General to the Brazilian government.
It follows the high-profile extradition last year of Braiscompany’s founder Antonio Inacio da Silva Neto and his partner Fabricia Farias Campos from Argentina. In the previous fraud operation, the two were each sentenced to 75 years in prison.
