In addition to cars and many properties, Douver Braga is suspected of having used Click4kids and Caxias Fair to launder money from the Trade Coin Club.

Various indications suggest that the leader of the financial pyramid Trade Coin Club, Douver Braga, laundered the fortune of R$ 1.5 billion amassed from the scam through various businesses in Brazil. The scheme mainly occurred in the United States and promised high returns with supposed investments in Bitcoin.

As reported by the newspaper O Globo, Douver Braga used the money to make supposed donations through Click4HelpKids, an NGO he founded when the fraud was already collapsing. In addition, he founded many companies in Brazil along with his partner José Carlos de Freitas Eloy, known as Cacalo.

The most emblematic business of the duo is the Caxias Fair, a complex in Baixada Fluminense that houses more than 500 stores. The duo allegedly took control of the enterprise in a contested process, which is still debated in the courts today.

At the end of May, the Federal Police launched the second phase of Operation Fantasos, which investigates the financial pyramid Trade Coin Club. In addition to search and seizure warrants, the Federal Court also ordered the seizure of assets and funds up to the amount of R$ 1.5 billion.

According to the Federal Police, Douver Braga bought 139 properties in less than two years, deceived more than 100,000 people, and moved $290 million (R$ 1.6 billion).

Braga was arrested in February of this year in Switzerland in an operation conducted by the FBI and was subsequently extradited to the USA, where, before the District Court of Seattle, he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Pyramid with Bitcoin

Braga started in the automotive sound equipment business before founding, in 2016, the Trade Coin Club (TCC). The business promised high returns through a supposed trading robot that would carry out thousands of Bitcoin operations per second.

The investment model attracted more than 100,000 investors, who deposited a total of 82,000 BTC, equivalent to $290 million at the time. However, the SEC classified the TCC as a financial pyramid, where the profits paid to investors came from new deposits, rather than real operations.

According to the SEC, Braga diverted at least 8,396 bitcoins to accounts under his control. The agency is seeking in court the return of the illegally obtained funds and the imposition of fines. Three other people were targeted by the SEC for their roles in the fraudulent business.

According to the website specialized in investigating financial pyramids Behind MLM, Joff Paradise was the director of the Trade Coin Club in the USA, while Keleionalani Taylor was the biggest winner of the business. Another involved was Jonathan Tetreault, promoter of the fraud in Massachusetts.

Videos in Portuguese promoting the Trade Coin Club can still be found on YouTube, suggesting that Brazilians were also targets of the scam.