The Federal Court authorized the sale of 3,537.21 Bitcoins seized during a Federal Police action whose target was the alleged Indeal cryptocurrency pyramid, The amount collected from the sale, which should be something around R$ 883 million, considering the price current Bitcoin, will be used to reimburse victims of the scheme. Indeal, headquartered in Novo Hamburgo, in Rio Grande do Sul, was a company that promised 15% returns on alleged operations with cryptocurrencies. However, it operated without authorization from the Central Bank or the Brazilian Securities Commission (CVM). In May 2019, the PF launched Operation Egypto, serving 10 preventive arrest warrants and 25 search and seizure warrants. In addition, court orders were issued to block financial assets on behalf of individuals and legal entities. At the time, several company leaders were arrested and luxury cars were seized to be auctioned. Furthermore, as reported by CriptoFácil, in November last year, the US Department of Justice seized R$134 million in cryptocurrencies (at the time) after a request from the Brazilian government. The amount seized in BTC was not informed. According to the DOJ, the funds were tied to Indeal’s scheme. More precisely, to partner Marcos Antônio Fagundes. The Bitcoins to be auctioned refer to this seizure. However, the value of the sale will not be enough to reimburse all those injured by the company. That’s because, according to the Federal Revenue, Indeal owes R$ 1.1 billion to more than 23 thousand people. It is worth noting that the maximum price Bitcoin reached last year (at the time of the seizure) was R$150,000. Today, each Bitcoin is traded at around R$250,000. That is, the Bitcoins saved appreciated at least 67% in the period.
Indeal Bitcoins will be sold
As found by the GZH portal, the determination of the sale of Bitcoins came from judge Guilherme Beltrami, of the 7th Federal Court of Porto Alegre. The magistrate complied with the request of the Federal Public Ministry for the seized Bitcoins to be sold in the US. The value obtained from the negotiation will be sent to Brazil and used to compensate those who suffered losses. In the decision, the judge alleged that the sale took place in the US because of the country’s limitation on sending cryptocurrencies abroad, due to the risk of fraud. Beltrami said restrictions under US law would cause the Bitcoin submission process to take 6,192 days. That is, 17 years old. The magistrate also determined that “a universal judgment of creditors of Ideal be formed, so that the amounts obtained with the security measures of a criminal nature are made available, informing the requests for credit reserve and pledges on the face of the registered records”. Read also: Movement that took Bitcoin to its all-time high is happening again, analyst says Read also: Assembly of El Salvador approves distribution of US$30 Bitcoin to each citizen Read also: “Cardano will exceed US$3 in the short term ”, say analysts
