Lead launderer in $190 million Brazilian crypto Ponzi scheme gets record 128-year sentence

A Brazilian judge has handed down a record 128-year prison sentence to the man convicted of leading the money laundering operation behind the Braiscompany cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, which operated from June 2018 until its collapse in early 2023.

Joel Ferreira de Souza, the scheme’s financial mastermind, was found to have used shell companies and proxy accounts to launder proceeds from the Braiscompany fraud. Brazilian prosecutors estimate that more than 20,000 investors were defrauded of 1.11 billion reais, or about $190 million. His sentence is among Brazil's longest ever handed down for financial crimes.

De Souza’s son, Victor Augusto Veronez de Souza, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the scheme. Top broker Gesana Rayane Silva received a sentence of 27 years and 10 months, in addition to earlier convictions, bringing her total sentence to more than 40 years, according to local media reports. Mizael Moreira Silva and Clélio Fernando Cabral do Ó were acquitted on money laundering charges due to insufficient evidence.

The leaders of Braiscompany, married couple Antônio “Neto” Ais and Fabrícia Farias Campos, were sentenced in February 2024 to 88 years and 7 months and 61 years and 11 months, respectively. The couple, who were apprehended in Argentina after more than a year on the run, are currently under house arrest awaiting extradition to Brazil..

Braiscompany promised investors monthly returns of about 8% on cryptocurrency they “locked up” with the company for one year. The firm aggressively recruited new clients with slick marketing materials and claims of high-profile crypto partnerships. But in 2022, Braiscompany began delaying payments, and by January 2023, payouts had nearly stopped altogether.

In February 2023, Brazil’s federal police launched a nationwide crackdown known as Operation Halving, executing search warrants at the company’s offices and prompting its founders to flee. The recent sentence against de Souza stems from a separate case focused on Braiscompany’s money laundering network.