An arbitration court in Brazil's Novo Hamburgo district has declared the investment company Indeal bankrupt after accusations of its participation in a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme.
This has led to the seizure of all Indeal's financial assets, real estate and vehicles, which must be used to pay more than $200 million in damages to more than 23,000 customers.
Indeal executives were charged with criminal offences for raising funds from investors with false information by offering them a 15% return on their crypto investments. Fifteen people have been arrested by law enforcement officials and must now pay $1.19 billion reais (about $200 million) in compensation.
Randall Crater, founder of My Big Coin, was recently convicted of fraud in Massachusetts; he received 100 months in prison and was ordered to pay victims $7.6 million.
