The case has been making headlines in the Brazilian sports press for a few days. Several Brazilian footballers have denounced an alleged cryptocurrency scam that caused them to lose huge sums.
Gustavo Scarpa, currently a midfielder for Nottingham Forest (English 1st division) and full-back Mayke, his former teammate at Palmeiras, a Sao Paulo club, each filed a complaint on their own in November, shortly after winning the title together. Brazilian champion. They accuse the Xland company of fraud, to which they have entrusted a large part of their fortune, lured by the promise of being able to generate up to 5% interest per month. Brasilia-headquartered Xland filed for bankruptcy in November, blaming its losses on that of FTX, one of the biggest platforms in the cryptocurrency industry.
“I’ve seen a lot of stupid people being taken in by scammers, but seeing me in such a situation is horrible,” Gustavo Scarpa said in an audio message on WhatsApp revealed Sunday by the Globo TV channel.
A suspected former teammate
Voted best player in the Brazilian championship last season, Scarpa, 29, says he invested 6.3 million reais (about 1.1 million euros), and Mayke 4 million (about 700,000 euros). The two footballers claim to have made these investments on the recommendation of a former Palmeiras teammate, striker Willian Bigode, who currently plays for Fluminense, a Rio de Janeiro club. However, it appears that Xland would be associated with a wealth management company, created precisely by Willian Bigode.
“There are strong indications of fraud,” said the investigator in charge of the case, Vinicius Salva, to TV Globo, even if the 36-year-old attacker denies any wrongdoing and also calls himself a “victim” of Xland . “I’m not a crook, I didn’t take anyone’s money. I am a victim, because I still have not seen the color of my investments, “he said on Instagram, claiming to have lost 17.5 million reais (about 3.1 million euros) in this affair.