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Brazilian Police Seize $28.8M in Crypto: Report

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Kryptos,” involved an alleged financial pyramid scheme.

Updated May 11, 2023, 7:02 p.m. Published Aug 26, 2021, 2:37 p.m.

Brazilian Federal Police seized R$150 million ($28.8 million) in crypto assets and made five arrests after cracking down on an alleged financial pyramid scheme, according to a CNN Brazil report.

Police carried out 15 search warrants and also seized R$19 million ($3.6 million) in cash, 21 luxury vehicles, high-end watches and jewelry on Wednesday, CNN said.
The operation dubbed “Operation Kryptos” involved police investigating an alleged financial pyramid scheme.
Police made five arrests, including Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, the owner of a bitcoin consultancy based in the Lakes Region of Rio de Janeiro. He has a custody hearing today.
His defense team released the following statement to CNN: “Glaidson Acácio’s defense is aware of the arrest and so far without access to the contents of the investigations. Only after proper analysis of all documentation will we be able to express ourselves in a concrete manner.”
In July, Brazil’s civil police seized $33 million in an investigation into money laundering carried out through crypto exchanges in Sao Paulo and Diadema.

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Tanzeel Akhtar

Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.