A series of alleged fraudulent investments in cryptocurrencies and several cross-complaints have thrown Melilla’s Civil Guard command into turmoil for months. Two city courts are investigating the facts, in which the protagonist is a corporal, accused by several colleagues and acquaintances of misappropriating more than 150,000 euros, which they would have made available to him to invest via the Internet, with the promise of high returns. short time The agent denies keeping the money and claims he is also a victim of fraud. He claims to have lost almost 25,000 euros on these investments.
The investigation is proceeding in parallel in two courts, where the Civil Guard combines the status of the applicant and investigates two crimes of fraud in the context of the same events. It’s the type of crime attributed to him by a dozen colleagues and acquaintances, for whom he acted as a kind of intermediary, and to which he attributes it. brokers and the cryptocurrency trading platform through which he allegedly made these investments. The corporal, who goes by the initials FA, was arrested on October 14 and released after testifying. Employees sued him, but also acquaintances or childhood friends from gyms located in Melilla, Cádiz and Huelva.
During the questioning before the judge, which elDiario.es had access to, the agent denied deceiving anyone and misappropriating other people’s money. He explained that it was his colleagues and acquaintances who asked him for investment information after learning that he had earned more than 5,000 euros from cryptocurrency operations. Then everything seemed like a safe business and, according to his story, he informed them about the “investment mechanics” which consisted of giving them money and he invested through a platform for buying and selling crypto assets called Trading Network. , where he told them that joint investments would save them taxes.
Investors signed certain documents as individual contracts with the platform, which sometimes did not bear the seal or signature of the other party, as the newspaper was able to verify. Several of the victims admitted in their complaints that they did not understand them because they were in English. The task of the FA was to act as an intermediary between the rest of the investors and the company. Since May 2021, the company has been on the list of fraudulent companies of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) for operating without authorization in the financial market.
A report by the Cybercrime Unit of the Civil Guard involved in the case reveals that the corporal’s bank accounts collect up to fifteen transfers from the alleged victim with the subject of “investment in the stock market” with a value of 163,750 euros. This is the money that was available for you to invest. The largest sums were made by two civil defenses, which transferred 60,000 and 31,000 euros, respectively. Other transfers are €5,000 or less.
An analysis of their accounts also includes five cash outflows in the form of “benefits” with a value of €12,000. This is the amount that the FA says it paid for the estimated profits from the investments. The aforementioned police report details, however, that those benefits “did not come from any investment, but from other people who allegedly invested the money,” according to documents provided by the banks. In other words, he paid the supposed benefits after getting a third party to make the investments. This report is prior to the complaint that FA and other colleagues filed against Trading Network and alleged brokers Francisco Jiménez, partner and vice president of the firm Zaballos Abogados Association of Victims of Cryptocurrency Investments.
The banking documentary also includes the existence of nine transfers from FA accounts to the Coinbase and Luno cryptocurrency platforms with a value of more than 110,000 euros. At the request of the investigators, the second of them stated that this account belonged to a Spanish client and that at the time of the information request, he did not have funds. The platform confirmed that this client received deposits in euros and that he used these funds to buy “immediate” bitcoins, which he sent to unknown third-party addresses and about which he cannot provide more information, although it is possible to request a traceability report that his defense intends to request
A mere intermediary
Before the judge, Corporal claimed to be a mere middleman who “lost access to the money at the time he invested” because they were brokers of the platform who was responsible for investing in cryptocurrencies. In addition, he stated that he was not the one directly carrying out the operations, but that agents accessed their computers through the Anydesk remote control application and acted on his behalf. And he insisted that “a lot” of information on his computer and phone had been deleted as a result.
In the complaint filed by the corporal in the spring, which has been under investigation by another court in Melilla since last June, he is more adamant, accusing brokers of transferring money from their accounts to the aforementioned cryptocurrency trading platforms “without any type of authorization or consent”. It ensures, in this regard, that broker Ania Koshkina, assigned to her by the platform, made up to 14 transfers worth more than 200,000 euros on these platforms without her permission. The FA submitted to the court the claims it has made against the banking entities with which they have accounts and which it believes are “involved in this case”.
When he was arrested, the FA denied to a judge that he had been the victim of identity theft after complaints from acquaintances and colleagues saw him arrested and unable to repay the money. Those who denounced him feel cheated by him, as can be seen by reading their complaints. These complaints involve a similar operating method, in which FA was the one who offered to make these investments, promising them a return of up to 30% that could be collected monthly and assuring them that the capital was guaranteed.
The procedure was also similar: everyone signed a document in English, which was the same in all cases – although the investment amounts were different – and in which the name and other personal data were handwritten. A manuscript also appeared on how they wanted to collect their winnings. The purpose of these funds remains a mystery to this day. The judge sentences the accused corporal to six years in prison, while the second judge tries to find out the role that B.Rockers and a cryptocurrency trading platform with which the agent allegedly invested thousands of euros.
Source: El Diario
