Five people have been jailed in Austria for their part in a $16 million pyramid scheme that duped 40,000 victims into investing in real estate and cryptocurrency and allowed the perpetrators to spend tens of thousands of euros on luxury cars, private jets, prostitutes, and a shark tank.
As reported by the Daily Mail, 11 suspects from Austria, Croatia, and Italy went on trial over the course of 60 days at the Klagenfurt Regional Court in what has been called Austria’s biggest-ever fraud trial.
The defendants, who included the 24-year-old stepson of an unnamed celebrity, were accused of guaranteeing investors massive profits if they pumped their money into property and traded in various cryptocurrencies, including the EXW token.
However, they pocketed the funds instead, allegedly spending vast amounts on high-end vehicles, club nights in Dubai, property, and a shark tank.
The celebrity’s stepson also reportedly spent €100,000 ($108,000) on prostitutes.
Five of the accused were jailed for between five years and 18 months while another five were acquitted. The eleventh defendant was absent from court.
Police said tackling the gang was made particularly difficult by the tactics it employed, which included transporting money in plastic bags, storing cash in shoe boxes, and exchanging funds via crypto platforms until the trail was all but invisible.
Prosecutor Caroline Czedik-Eysenberg said, “There were never any profitable projects” and that the schemes were “only there to attract customers.”
One of the gang’s defense lawyers claimed that their client had not intended to commit fraud but had “invested a lot of work and planned to make profits with various assets,” before becoming overwhelmed by the project.
