The Federal Police (PF) is carrying out this Thursday (11) an operation against a financial pyramid scheme that may have moved over R$ 100 million in the last four years in the state of São Paulo.
Operation Ponzi, a reference to the Italian-American Charles Ponzi – who, in the 1920s, became famous as the creator of a gigantic financial fraud – served 4 arrest warrants and 23 search and seizure warrants issued by the State Court of Santa Fé do Sul (SP).
The PF agents, with the support of the Civil Police and the State Public Ministry, carry out the warrants in the cities of Santa Fé do Sul, Santa Clara d’Oeste, Votuporanga, Bebedouro, Araçatuba, Casa Branca, Americana, Santana de Parnaíba and São Paulo
According to the PF, during the investigations it was identified that a businessman, arrested in the operation, opened dozens of companies and branches in several cities in the interior of São Paulo, with the offer of credit services as a front.
“In fact, the entire structure was aimed at convincing savers to hand over their savings in exchange for high remunerative interest rates that reached 6% per month and were paid with resources from new investors, characterizing a ‘financial pyramid’ scheme”, he said. the PF, in a note.
The manager and the general director of the investigated group were arrested outside a concert hall in São Paulo, this Thursday morning. They will be taken to the PF headquarters in Jales to be heard by the police authority. The businessman’s ex-wife and the group’s financial director were also arrested.
The PF also located a mansion, farms and land on the banks of the Paraná River, as well as several luxury cars and an aircraft that were seized.
Three large vessels were also seized with the support of the Environmental Military Police of Fernandópolis.
The prisoners will be indicted for crimes against the national financial system, ideological falsehood, embezzlement, crimes against the popular economy and criminal organization. Added together, the maximum sentences can reach 24 years of imprisonment.
(*With information from Julyanne Jucá and Vianey Bentes, from CNN, in São Paulo and Brasília)
Reference: CNN Brasil
