“More than 22.9 million euros in cryptocurrencies seized”: PJ holds executive director of company in Cascais in operation with the FBI
The Judiciary Police arrested a foreign citizen suspected of running a criminal organization that engaged in “widespread manipulation” in cryptocurrency markets, at the request of the US federal investigation authority, FBI, the PJ announced today.
As part of an international cooperation operation, the PJ located and detained one of the executive directors of a cryptocurrency (digital currency) financial services company in Cascais, with two other arrests being made simultaneously, one in the United States and the other in the United Kingdom. United.
“In the police operation led by the FBI, more than 25 million dollars (22.9 million euros) in cryptocurrencies were seized” and “several ‘bots’ were deactivated [programa de computador que executa tarefas automáticas pela Internet] trading, responsible for millions of dollars in money laundering transactions”, the PJ said in a statement.
According to the Portuguese police, “the ‘modus operandi’ used involved the creation of companies with false statements about cryptocurrencies (‘tokens’) and the execution of false trades to create the appearance that they would be good investments”, which attracts investors and buyers and led to an increase in the price of the currency.
“The suspects are also accused of having sold ‘tokens’ at artificially inflated prices, a fraud commonly known as ‘pump and dump’.”
According to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office for the State of Massachusetts, 18 individuals and entities have been charged with widespread fraud and manipulation in the cryptocurrency markets.
“Indictments were unsealed in Boston against the leaders of four cryptocurrency companies, four cryptocurrency financial services companies (known as ‘market makers’) and employees of these companies,” indicates the note released last week.
He also mentions that these are the “first criminal charges against financial services companies for (…) ‘wash trading’ [compra e venda dos mesmos instrumentos financeiros ao mesmo tempo para manipular o mercado] in the cryptocurrency industry.”
