He is 36 years old, he was sentenced to 88 years in prison by the Brazilian Justice and the surname by which everyone knows him in his country is “
Ais
”, the acronym for part of his name.
His name is
Antonio Inacio Da Silva Neto
, the man who in Campina Grande (Paraíba) founded the
cryptocurrency company Braiscompany
and who with a misleading slogan of financial strength (“
Build financial freedom for thousands of people through information
”) managed to move , through an ambitious pyramid scheme,
about 400 million dollars, a scam that affected 15,000 people.
As Clarín revealed this Thursday, Da Silva Neto was captured by Interpol in the Buenos Aires town of
Escobar.
The same fate befell his wife, Fabricia Farias Campos, both accused of being “mentors and main managers of illicit activities”, clarify the “red” notification cards of the International Police that this medium was able to access, in relation to the
mega fraud. which since 2017
they have perpetrated through collective investment contracts that promised a juicy interest of 10% monthly.
After spending the night in a Federal Police office accompanied by a social worker, federal judge Sebastián Ramos began the corresponding hearings this Friday and decided if at least the woman could be placed under house arrest.
Both Farias and Da Silva Neto had entered the country on January 28 with
false identity
but genuine documentation, since their passports had been lent to them by relatives.
As detailed in the Interpol alert, “in the period under investigation, 1.5 billion reais were operated through Fabricia's account on the Binance Stock Exchange, without relevant volumes in the operations that could justify the profitability margins promised and widely advertised by the company.” .
“There was only a large volume of income and expenses, in general, of bitcoins, a good part of which was appropriated by the couple for their own benefit,” the writing continues.
The DNI with false identity of the Brazilian cryptocurrency scammer Antonio Inacio Da Silva Neto.
Sources from G1 Paraíba, a news affiliate of the famous Brazilian network Globo, shared with
Clarín
that the scope of the couple's scam is not limited to 15,000 people with the economy bankrupt by the pyramid scheme but
"more than one case of suicide".
They also reported that two days before the couple was considered formally a fugitive in Brazil (on February 14), the Justice of that country announced their conviction, as part of a sentence that included the cases of 10 people linked to Braiscompany.
Da Silva Neto received no less than
88 years and 7 months in prison,
by decision of the judge of the Fourth Federal Court of Campina Grande, Vinícius Costa Vidor.
Meanwhile, Fabricia Farias Campos, his wife and one of the owners of Braiscompany,
was sentenced to 61 years and 11 months.
Antonio Da Silva Neto, the Brazilian scammer who managed to move 400 million dollars in a pyramid scheme.
Photo Camila Ferreira/Braiscompany
There were, however, two other defendants worth naming.
On the one hand, Felipe Guilherme de Souza, considered responsible for having built and managed a portfolio of more than 30 million reais (about 6 million dollars) and who lent Da Silva Neto his passport so that he could escape to Argentina, documentation that allowed him to spend a month at ease in
homes in Palermo, La Plata, Nordelta and, finally, the country Haras Santa María de Escobar
, where he was captured this Thursday.
And to continue with the family map of defendants, it must be said that De Souza is married to Fabricia's sister, Fernanda Farias Campos, precisely the person who shared her passport with the woman arrested in Escobar this Thursday.
While - as was said - Fabricia received more than 60 years in prison,
his sister received a sentence of 8 years and 9 months.
Da Silva Neto: the narcissistic scammer
While the international police were searching for him after the man had tried to flee to Dubai (United Arab Emirates, a situation in which they withheld his passport), ten days ago Brazilian media reported that Da Silva Neto had been seen in a gym in the Tigre town.
Antonio Da Silva Neto playing golf in Argentina.
A local personal trainer had accidentally filmed it.
Campante, the scammer did his gadget routine.
But it wasn't just this clue that helped reconstruct his whereabouts.
Da Silva Neto himself collaborated, perhaps with his narcissism.
Braiscompany, the Brazilian cryptoasset company (Campina Grande, Paraíba) through which the pyramid scam that affected 15,000 people was perpetrated.
Camila Ferreira/Braiscompany
And, in the few days that he was in Argentina, the man could not help but
post photos of daily life.
For example, some in which he is seen - always in a triumphant pose -
playing golf.
He did it with a new user, who was not very difficult to discover for the authorities and the Brazilian public themselves: “Felipe.ukbr”.
He combines the first name that he borrowed from his brother-in-law and adds the web domains of two countries: Brazil, of course, and England, which perhaps would have been his next escape destination.
S.C.