A Brazilian court this week jailed three men for their part in a crypto Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say conned investors out of approximately $190 million. 

The court sentenced Joel Ferreira de Souza, Gesana Rayane da Silva, and Victor Augusto Veronez de Souza to a combined sentence of 170 years behind bars for their role in running Braiscompany, according to local media. 

Braiscompany promised people false returns on Bitcoin investments, prosecutors said. As far back as in 2021, the company was accused of being a pyramid scheme, and Brazilian cops were investigating Braiscompany in 2023.

Prosecutors alleged that Ferreira de Souza was the mastermind behind the scheme; he received the biggest sentence of 128 years behind bars. 

Brazil's Federal Prosecutor's Office alleged the trio took over $1.1 billion Brazilian reais—over $190 million—in total from about 20,000 investors, many of whom plugged their personal savings into the scheme.

The defendants were ordered to pay R$36.5 million ($6.2 million) back to investors, and authorities seized some of their assets. Local media has reported that the scam was the biggest crypto con in the country's history. 

Brazil—Latin America's largest economy—is a crypto hotspot: The country has more Bitcoin ETFs than any other nation in the region, and many of the country's major banks offer investors  digital asset exposure.

Edited by Andrew Hayward