Two Brazilian football players were lured into a crypto scam promising a monthly income of 5%.
In May of last year, Mayke of Palmeiras Football Club and Gustavo Scarpa of Nottingham Forest invested around R$11 million ($2 million) in WLJC, a company claiming to provide consulting services and investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies.
The pair were introduced to the pyramid scheme by a colleague from another club, Willian Gomes de Siqueira, who is a partner at WLJC and also plays as a striker for Fluminense.
After not receiving any profits or their money back, Mayke and Scarpa filed a lawsuit against WLJC and demanded a refund, with the case scheduled to be heard in October 2023.
Siqueira maintains his innocence, stating that he too lost 17.5 million reais ($3.3 million) on investments.
Other players from Palmeiras were also involved, but their investments were smaller, leading them to not pursue legal action.
In a similar case in December, Italian and Albanian authorities uncovered a cryptocurrency scam that defrauded investors of over 15 million euros ($15.9 million), using virtual phone numbers and private networks to convince victims to invest in a special platform with a low risk threshold.