According to local media sources, three Brazilian footballers claim they were the victims of a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency fraud, including Gustavo Scarpa, a midfielder for Nottingham Forest.
According to the reports, Scarpa, his former teammate Mayke from Sao Paulo club Palmeiras, and Willian Bigode from Rio de Janeiro club Fluminense all claim to have lost significant sums of money to a cryptocurrency company called Xland that promised investors returns of up to 5% per month on their capital.
"I've constantly witnessed naive people fall into frauds and pyramid schemes. Seeing myself in that scenario is terrible," the 29-year-old Scarpa stated in a WhatsApp audio message shown on TV Globo on Sunday.
Shortly after Palmeiras won the league championship in November, Scarpa, the 2022 Brazilian league player of the year, and 30-year-old defender Mayke lodged complaints with the police.
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Scarpa claims to have given Xland 6.3 million reais ($1.2 million). Mayke claims to have invested about $762,000.
Both claim that Willian Bigode, a former teammate from Palmeiras, convinced them to invest in the business.
But 36-year-old Bigode claims he is also a victim.
"I'm not a con artist; I never stole anyone's money. Because I have yet to receive my own money back, I am also a victim", he claimed on Instagram.
He estimated that he had lost 17.5 million reais.
The lead investigator Vinicius Salva told TV Globo that there was "solid proof" of a hoax.
However, the Brasilia-based Xland company denied operating a pyramid scheme and promised to reimburse its clients.
It claimed that the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which filed for bankruptcy in November, had caused it to incur significant losses.
Cryptocurrency is now one of the most famous forms of trading and methods of earning easy money globally and has grown very fast across the globe dominating most parts of the world
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