Fun

Lawyer Who Represents Victims of Alleged Spanish Crypto Ponzi Says It Could Be the ‘Biggest One’ in the Country

News Feed - 2020-12-16 10:12:49

Lawyer Who Represents Victims of Alleged Spanish Crypto Ponzi Says It Could Be the "Biggest One" in the Country


The Arbistar case victims’ defense lawyer claims that the overall number of those affected amounts to 32,000 families with at least 93.4 million euros ($113.55 million) in losses. Lawyer in Arbistar Case Reveals Details on Class-Actions Lawsuits Against the Alleged Crypto Ponzi Scheme


During an interview with Eldiario, Carlos Aránguez, a Spanish lawyer who represents 130 victims, pointed out that the magnitude of the disaster provoked by the alleged crypto Ponzi scheme Arbistar can be qualified as the “biggest computer scam” in Spain.


Victims represented by the lawyer are located in Mexico, Venezuela, France, Andorra, and almost 20 Spanish provinces, who claimed to had invested into the Arbicorp’s bots — the firm who owns Arbistar — and which promised yields of approximately 28%, but suddenly, the firm announced the freezing of accounts belonging to over 120,000 investors on September 12, 2020, due to an alleged “failure” in one of its cryptocurrency trading bots.


According to Aránguez, in reality, Arbistar’s business model was based on a pyramid scheme, as almost each one of his clients got attracted by the offering of the Spanish firm thanks to the recommendations of friends who claimed to have generated profits on their investments: The company was based on a recruitment system of ‘bring me your friends, acquaintances and family and I will reward you.’ That is the pyramid scheme that has worked. It is a Ponzi scheme like the one Baldomera Larra did in her time, the first Spanish woman to carry out a pyramid scam, although everyone knows Carlo Ponzi.


The lawyer told Eldiario that there are four ongoing class-action lawsuits against Arbicorp and its CEO and founder, Santiago Fuentes. As per what the victims demand, Aránguez said that they have filed a complaint about a crime of fraud aggravated by the crime of laundering against public finances and by a criminal organization. He also added: The plot is still being investigated, it is very incipient, and there are parts that are not known. Our main interest is to recover the savings that have been so unfairly looted from our patrons. The case is now in the Court of Instruction number 3 of Arona, but due to its volume and complexity, it must go to the National Court.


Although the lawyer commented that the tracing of bitcoins allegedly stolen by Arbicorp “is not an easy task,” they’ve provided enough informatic proofs to the authorities in charge of the investigation.


Alleged Ponzi Scheme Mastermind Is Still on Probation


He also requested preventive detention for Fuentes, who is currently on probation, after being first arrested and arraigned on fraud charges, belonging to a criminal organization, and money laundering. Fuentes, hiding since September, was arrested at one of his properties in the south of Tenerife on October 22, 2020.


However, Fuentes must appear on the 1st and 15th of each month before the Court of Instruction Number 3 of Arona. Also, a ban on leaving Spain was imposed.


Aránguez said that he contacted Fuentes’ law firm through Burofax — a service used in Spain for the urgent shipment of documents, serving as evidence against third parties — and via call, but had not yet received any response as of press time.


The Spanish Prosecution office, who first launched an investigation against Arbistar for allegedly running a bitcoin trading scam, said on October 7, 2020, that preliminary findings suggested $1 billion in investors’ funds cannot be accounted for.


What do you think about this case of an alleged massive crypto Ponzi scheme in Spain? Let us know in the comments section below. No Need to Convince Shareholders - Microstrategy"s Investors Already Sold on Bitcoin, Says Analyst NEWS | 16 hours ago Bank of America Investor Survey Highlights the Most Crowded Trades: "Long Tech, Short USD, Long Bitcoin" NEWS | 1 day ago Tags in this story Arbistar, Arbistar Scheme, Bitcoin Fraud, Bitcoin investment, Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, buy and sell orders, cryptocurrency brokerage, Money Laundering, Ponzi Scheme, Pyramid Scheme, Santiago Fuentes, Spain, Spanish Investment Scheme, Trading bots


Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons Purchase Bitcoin without visiting a cryptocurrency exchange. Buy BTC and BCH here. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Read disclaimerShow comments

News Feed

Tom Mitchelhill1 hour agoCoinbase layer-2 network Base suffers first major outage since launchBlock production on Base abruptly halted for 43 minutes as developers rushed to implement a fix.380 Total views20 Total shares
Savannah Fortis14 hours agoUS considers tightening restrictions on AI chip exportsOfficials in the United States are considering restricting the computing power of chips to lessen the flow of AI chips available in the Ch
Japan’s Third Largest Bank Completes Blockchain Trade Finance Test
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the third largest bank by assets in Japan, is set to begin utilizing R3’s Marco Polo trade finance blockchain on a commercial basis by the end of the year.
Digital Euro to Handle ‘Almost Unlimited’ Payments, Estonian Central Bank Says After Test
Digital Euro to Handle ‘Almost Unlimited’ Payments, Estonian Central Bank Says After Test A blockchain-based digital euro would be highly scalable allowing i
Current Block Times Suggest Bitcoin’s Halving Is Coming Sooner Than Expected
Current Block Times Suggest Bitcoin"s Halving Is Coming Sooner Than Expected Bitcoin’s hashrate has been running hot despite the lower prices and the recent difficulty incre
Wormhole, Ethena and Waves are top 3 ‘trending’ tokens right now: Santiment
Brayden Lindrea3 hours agoWormhole, Ethena and Waves are top 3 ‘trending’ tokens right now: SantimentWormhole and Ethena Labs’ recent multi-million token airdrops have been trending on social, according to Santimen
Nigerian Central Bank Hikes Key Interest Rate Just Days After Naira Plunges to New Low
Nigerian Central Bank Hikes Key Interest Rate Just Days After Naira Plunges to New Low Following the latest meeting of the monetary policy committee, the Central Bank of Nigeria sa
Iranian Government Approves ‘Comprehensive and Detailed’ Crypto Regulations
Iranian Government Approves "Comprehensive and Detailed" Crypto Regulations The government of Iran has finalized a set of cryptocurrency regulations. A “comprehensive and de
US Bank Quontic Launches Bitcoin Rewards Checking Account With Debit Card
US Bank Quontic Launches Bitcoin Rewards Checking Account With Debit Card Quontic Bank is launching a bitcoin rewards checking account with a debit card. Custome
Iris Energy Boosts Self-Mining Capacity With 4.4 EH/s of New Bitmain Bitcoin Mining Rigs
Iris Energy Boosts Self-Mining Capacity With 4.4 EH/s of New Bitmain Bitcoin Mining Rigs Bitcoin miner, Iris Energy, announced plans to increase the company’s self-mining ca
New record: Bitcoin processes 1.6M confirmed payments in a day
Arijit Sarkar1 hour agoNew record: Bitcoin processes 1.6M confirmed payments in a dayThe launch of Bitcoin Runes played an important role in the spike in the total number of transactions over the Bitcoin network.1300 Tot
Bitcoin sats the ‘most valuable digital canvas ever’ — Ordinals artist
Brayden Lindrea3 hours agoBitcoin sats the ‘most valuable digital canvas ever’ — Ordinals artistBitcoin artist “Nuro” recently inscribed his 3D neurogenerative artwork on a $2 million “epic sat” from the la