Victims of the $4 billion Omegapro cryptocurrency pyramid scheme are suing famous footballers for their promotional involvement, including Vinicius Jr., Ronaldhino, and Luis Figo.

Omegapro was a crypto investment firm based in Dubai that promised investors stunning returns of up to 300% within 14 months. Through aggressive marketing tactics and celebrity endorsements, the firm attracted almost 3 million customers and their collective $4 billion.

However, regulators across the globe soon caught on. France, Belgium, Spain, and Peru were among the countries that issued fraud warnings for Omegapro. The Spanish Securities Market Commission added the company to its list of non-transparent financial businesses.

Somehow, this didn’t stop renowned football players from participating in its promo. Around 20 current and former footballers are named in the lawsuit, which also includes Kaká, Carles Puyol, Roberto Carlos, and Fernando Hierro. They’re accused of promoting and perpetuating a fraudulent investment scheme despite the explicit warning signs.

“All football players who have been seen at Omegapro events will be sued by us in London,” said lawyer and investigator Lars Olofsson (via el Diario). Spain will also be suing the players, though it remains unclear whether the lawsuit will hold up in local court.

Read more: CHART: Every crypto sponsor for the 2024/25 Champions League

In November 2022, around the time FTX was going under, the company halted withdrawals and shut down user accounts. In a flash, it had made off with victims’ entire life savings.

According to some victims, their endorsements convinced them to keep their money in the scheme, even when they had their doubts.

“How was it supposed to be a scam?” asked one victim named Dolores, who lost all of her savings, €18,000 ($19,000), to Omegapro. “If even the footballers were involved and the company’s logo was projected on a skyscraper in Dubai!” (translated from Spanish via La Vanguardia).

“I just wanted to live like them,” said another victim, 51-year-old Marta, to el Diario. “I thought: Why not me?” Marta has also lost thousands of euros in the crypto pyramid scheme.

In July, Omegapro cofounder Andreas Szakacs was arrested in Turkey. The Swede had reportedly fled to the country and had changed his name to Emre Avci. By September, Dutch managing director Robert V. was also arrested in Turkey.

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Roger Ver, a.k.a. ‘Bitcoin Jesus,’ was ordered to give up his passport and released on bail by Spanish authorities as the US seeks his extradition over tax fraud charges.  

That’s according to documents seen by Bloomberg that reveal his €150,000 ($163,000) bail, which began on May 17, was granted on the condition that he stay in Spain. 

Ver is also required to visit a Spanish court every two days. Prosecutors attempted to appeal his release but this was rejected. 

The bitcoin investor was arrested in late April after the US accused him of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of more than $48 million. Just days before his arrest, Ver published his new book Hijacking Bitcoin, which is his own version of Bitcoin’s 2015-2017 blocksize wars.

Read more: Duke Roger Ver becomes finance minister for Joseon

Ver, who owned companies MemoryDealers.com Inc. and Agilestar.com Inc., started buying up bitcoin for himself and his firms, publicizing the purchases and earning his famous nickname.

The IRS alleges, that he ‘concealed and provided false information to his various advisors regarding the number and value of bitcoins he owned and controlled both personally and through his companies.’

Bloomberg reports that Ver’s lawyer, Jaime Campaner, claimed he “is not a fugitive at all, since he has been in touch with the US authorities through his Californian lawyers.” 

“Therefore, he was aware of the investigation and, in my opinion, his arrest didn’t make sense,” he said. 

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ProtonMail, a managed email service popular with the crypto community, surrendered a user’s information to Spanish authorities, leading privacy rights advocates to claim it had violated its sworn promise to protect user data.

ProtonMail is based in Switzerland and uses privacy and security themes in all of its corporate messaging. Like Switzerland’s once-enviable numbered bank accounts, ProtonMail made allusions to Swiss privacy, pseudonymity, and jurisdictional legal protections from the power of certain subpoenas. As a result of this marketing campaign, it attracted many crypto users who wanted a private email service.

In this instance, the user was a member of Mossos d’Esquadra, a police force in Catalonia. Spanish authorities identified him via subpoenas to ProtonMail and Apple.

The secure email service provided police with a recovery email address that revealed the pseudonym ‘Xuxo Rondinaire.’ Alongside information from Apple related to that recovery email and pseudonym, Spanish authorities believe he assisted the Democratic Tsunami movement.

ProtonMail’s decision to cooperate with Spanish law enforcement came under immediate fire. The email service admitted to the disclosure while simultaneously boasting that its privacy-centric infrastructure meant that the recovery email address was the only information that it gave to authorities.

Other free email services like Google’s Gmail, it said, would have turned over more information, such as the recipients or actual content of emails.

Ideas for using ProtonMail going forward

In response to the news, some users suggested better practices for anyone wishing to remain at the Swiss email service. Given the obvious reality that ProtonMail might surrender backup email addresses to law enforcement, users can supplement their privacy by adding a completely anonymous and unrelated private recovery email. They also recommend using a non-ProtonMail VPN to access the service.

Read more: Jack Mallers’ Strike denied an email breach that definitely happened

ProtonMail, interestingly, complied with 5,957 data requests in 2022. So although its latest disclosure of the ‘Xuxo Rondinaire’ recovery email address in response to an anti-terrorism law enforcement request gained media attention from the crypto community, the company has made thousands of other disclosures throughout its history.

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Less than four weeks ago, Roger Ver published his version of Bitcoin’s 2015-2017 blocksize wars. In Ver’s first full-length book, Hijacking Bitcoin, he attempted to question the Blockstream-led narrative of the user-activated soft fork that ostensibly saved Bitcoin from the miner-activated soft fork proposal of big blockers like Ver, Gavin Andresen, Mike Hearn, Calvin Ayre, Jihan Wu, and Craig Wright.

A few days later, authorities arrested Ver in Spain for unrelated tax fraud.

The unfortunate sequence of events continues something of a trend in Ver’s life. His idealism has frequently led to encounters with law enforcement. In 2002, for example, he spent 10 months in prison for selling prohibited items (mainly firecrackers) via eBay.

Another detention center stay for Roger Ver

According to a newly unsealed indictment this month, Ver allegedly defrauded the US out of more than $48 million. According to the IRS, “he concealed and provided false information to his various advisors regarding the number and value of bitcoins he owned and controlled both personally and through his companies.”

Spanish authorities arrested Ver this month and are detaining him pending extradition proceedings to the US court system.

The US Justice Department (DoJ) will seek to try him in a federal courthouse for his criminal charges. In addition to demanding payment of overdue taxes plus penalties, authorities will seek a prison sentence. In national criminal proceedings, discretion is given to a federal judge to decide the ultimate terms of punishment.

As the predecessor of modern-day celebrities like Michael Saylor, Ver was Bitcoin’s most prominent spokesperson prior to 2017.

The Gospel of Bitcoin Jesus

For Ver (a.k.a. Bitcoin Jesus), Bitcoin was primarily a freedom technology — a tool in his arsenal of other self-sovereign tools like privacy tools, crisis gear, home fortifications, and guns.

Ver wanted Bitcoin’s blocksize to increase so that data storage for everyday commerce transactions would be affordable and fast. In his new book, he argues that he doesn’t regret championing the Bitcoin Cash version of Bitcoin, even though he’s widely viewed as the loser of the blocksize war.

Eventually, Ver began arguing that Bitcoin should fork its consensus node software to increase its block data storage size. Specifically, he advocated for a large data version of Bitcoin that still operates today, Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Fast forward to today, and BCH has a 99.3% smaller market capitalization than bitcoin (BTC). 

Defeated, he retired from his media career and lived a quieter life in the Caribbean. “I absolutely made a deliberate decision to do less media stuff,” he admitted. “That civil war is kind of over now.”

This month, he was traveling in Spain. Law enforcement arrested him and are holding him in a Spanish detention center.

Read more: Duke Roger Ver becomes finance minister for Joseon

Ver’s alleged tax fraud

According to the DoJ, Ver illegally reduced his tax liability by transferring ownership of his bitcoin to several companies in order to evade an ‘exit tax’ requirement prior to renouncing his US citizenship. That scheme failed. Simply shuffling assets to one’s own companies and claiming not to own those assets as of a snapshot date for tax purposes is classic tax fraud. Worse, Ver wrote down his plans for this type of scheme in an email, which law enforcement obtained as evidence against him.

The DoJ also alleges that Ver provided or caused to be provided false and misleading tax information to his attorney.

On Ver’s expatriation-related tax returns (IRS forms 1040NR and 8854), his attorney didn’t report that Ver owned any bitcoin personally as of March 2, 2014 when Ver furnished his statement of voluntary relinquishment of US Citizenship to a US consulate. 

To make things even worse, Ver’s attorney incorrectly dated his expatriation to February 3 rather than the true March 2 date.

It’s fine to legally avoid taxes, but evading taxes is a crime. Once again, Roger Ver is arrested and unless he strikes a plea deal, a jury will determine whether he is guilty of tax evasion.

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Eyeball-scanning crypto project Worldcoin has failed to budge a temporary ban issued by Spain’s High Court last week following concerns over child participation and privacy rights.

Spain’s Data Protection Agency (AEPD) slapped Worldcoin with a temporary three-month ban last Wednesday, prohibiting it from collecting any more personal data or using any data it had already gathered.

Just hours later Worldcoin filed a lawsuit against the ban but on Monday, Reuters reported that the High Court had rejected the request. According to the court, the “safeguarding of the public interest” must prevail, and Worldcoin had made “unsubstantiated assertions.”

Read more: South Korea vows to ‘take action’ if Worldcoin violations are confirmed

Worldcoin claimed that the AEPD was “spreading inaccurate and misleading claims about our technology globally,” and “circumventing established procedures under GDPR.”

“In accordance with the EU regulations pertaining to GDPR enforcement, Worldcoin contributors have regularly responded to BayLDA requests for months while operating lawfully in Spain and select other countries in Europe,” Worldcoin said in response to the ban.

Worldcoin is attracting complaints globally 

Worldcoin is owned by Tools for Humanity and run by OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. Its goal is to scan the iris of as many people as possible to create a digital ID database. In its venture, the project also offers free crypto in exchange scanning your iris and promises to be able to distinguish humans from AI.

The AEPD said it had received multiple complaints “denouncing insufficient information, collection of data from minors, and preventing the withdrawal of consent, among other infringements,” from Worldcoin.

Indeed, Worldcoin has received a mixed response across the globe with concerns often centered on privacy issues. South Korea launched an investigation last week following complaints about its methods of data collection, and Worldcoin has prompted inquiries from the UK, France, Germany, and Kenya.

In an email, Worldcoin told Protos: “Worldcoin is fully compliant with all laws and regulations governing biometric data collection and data transfer, including Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“Since our previous attempts to engage AEPD went unanswered, we look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate this compliance and provide the regulator with accurate and important information regarding this essential and lawful technology in the Spanish High Court.”

Despite these concerns, Worldcoin’s WLD token has risen more than 280% in the past month and currently sits at just under $10.

Quotes in bold are our emphasis. Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Edit 18:40 UTC, Mar 12: Updated piece to include comment from Worldcoin.

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The Spanish treasury will be granted the power to seize crypto assets when executing taxpayer debts when reforms to the country’s current tax laws come into force.

Under proposals first put forward in 2021, Spain’s tax watchdog, Agencia Tributaria, will consider digital asset entities as tax collection agents. This means that these firms will be required to embargo their customers’ crypto and collaborate with authorities when compelled by the government — measures previously only required by credit companies or traditional banks.

Spanish crypto traders will also have to declare any assets held in another country and authorities will be able to use crypto tax statements from as far back as 2021 to help them collect outstanding money.

Last week, the Spanish government issued a royal decree that makes crypto firms’ new responsibilities official. However, the speed with which the new measures are being implemented is causing problems for regulators as they try to remain in step with sweeping crypto regulation coming into force across the European Union (EU).

Read more: Spanish police say crypto’s complicated following ‘crypto-jihadist’ arrest

In October last year, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation announced that the EU-wide Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), will come into force in the country in December 2025. This will be six months before the official deadline.

Spain is widely considered to be one of Europe’s frontrunners when it comes to crypto regulation. The country was one of the first in the EU to bring in tax controls on crypto and requires crypto traders and holders to declare personal crypto income and holdings.

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Spanish police have claimed that investigating crypto is difficult after arresting a “crypto-jihadist” in Barcelona suspected of owning various crypto addresses linked to terrorist networks funding ISIS.

According to Spain’s Ministry of Interior (MoI), the man was operating various crypto addresses linked to three international terrorist financing networks that fund DAESH — the Arabic acronym for ISIS. 

The ministry stated that the use of crypto as a financing tool “promoted by fully specialized crypto-jihadists severely complicate the investigations of the security services.”

The MoI also emphasized the importance of international cooperation, calling it “one of the most decisive instruments to be able to neutralize these networks.” According to the ministry, the ISIS network and its “large economic movements” meant that authorities needed to work closely with the French DGSI, the American FBI, the Swedish SÄPO, and Europol.

Read more: Spanish police take down network funding ISIS with crypto

Spanish police previously arrested five individuals suspected of financing jihadists with crypto and plotting two terror attacks. Two hundred thousand euros ($217,000) worth of crypto was reportedly seized from the group. 

Yesterday’s announcement claimed the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst event for terrorists as they attempted to compensate for a “loss of personal mobility that was restricted in several countries,” by adapting to crypto.

The man arrested in Barcelona is currently in custody and will be moved to a provisional prison.

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Former Spanish football president Luis Rubiales has launched an NFT collection apparently aimed at supporting ‘real equality’ just months after he was accused of sexual assault at the Women’s World Cup.

Rubiales came under fire after appearing to grab and kiss Spanish player Jenni Hermoso following the country’s success in the tournament’s final in Australia. He claims the kiss was consensual, however, Hermoso claims this isn’t the case. 

Hermoso reportedly filed an official complaint and Spanish state prosecutors have subsequently accused Rubiales of sexual assault and coercion after he allegedly pressured her into defending him amid the global backlash. 

Now, Rubiales has launched his own NFT collection alongside Korean web3 firm Moon Labs. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Rubiales said, “This message is for those who support real equality and not radicalism or media manipulations.”

According to OpenSea, “This NFT combines Luis Rubiales’ achievements as a professional athlete and his experiences from his childhood, effectively portraying his story. It offers fans and collectors a unique and meaningful digital asset that holds value.”

In a shared statement, Moon Labs said that Rubiales “made a small mistake” at the World Cup while arguing his actions shouldn’t be considered sexual assault. 

Read more: New Chelsea FC sponsor BingX accused of holding 215K USDT ‘hostage’

At the time of writing, four NFTs have been sold, three of which were sold to the same wallet. The highest NFT is currently listed for 0.36 ETH ($914).

Another football figure currently embroiled in legal issues relating to the NFT space is former Real Madrid legend Christiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is facing a class action lawsuit concerning his ‘CR7’ NFT collection launched in partnership with Binance.

Claimants in the case state that Ronaldo promoted Binance and caused a “500% increase in searches” for the exchange. This, they say, led people to invest in unregistered securities, including Binance’s own BNB.

Ronaldo has also been accused of sexual offenses, specifically of raping Kathryn Mayorga in 2009. The case was settled out of court last November. 

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A network of ISIS-supporting jihadists that transacted €200,000 worth of crypto while being funded by criminals in Europe was dismantled by Spanish police this weekend. 

According to Spain’s National Police Agency, five people allegedly involved with DAESH terrorists, otherwise known as ISIS, were arrested on Saturday as part of a two-and-a-half-year terrorist investigation.

In this period, the group allegedly planned two terror attacks and financed jihadists with crypto through international shipments made from criminal activities within Europe. Police reportedly seized €200,000 in crypto from the group. 

One of the arrested individuals was reportedly radicalized in the months before their arrest and was close to carrying out an attack. When police searched their home, they discovered handgun ammunition and an axe. Police added that “Manuals for making explosives, manuals for indoctrination of minors and jihadist propaganda have also been seized from those detained.”

Read more: Islamic State tests NFTs for recruitment and financing

The investigation began when it uncovered someone living in Spain that was in collaboration with a jihadist planning to commit an act of terrorism in France. This prompted a joint operation between Switzerland and Spain that resulted in the arrest of eight individuals. 

The initial two radicals were discovered to be a part of a wider network supporting ISIS across three continents. After discovering this, police in Spain began collaborating with twelve countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Maghreb, in an anti-terror investigation leading to Saturday’s arrests. 

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Spanish regulators have launched the country’s first-ever crypto advertising probe after a tech firm rolled out two “massive” campaigns that they claim failed to abide by crypto promotion rules. 

As reported by Reuters, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has launched a case against Spanish technology provider Miolos S.L. for two crypto-related advertising campaigns it ran between September and November last year.

On Wednesday, the CNMV claimed that Miolos S.L. failed to include warnings and relevant information about the risky nature of crypto assets. In addition, it says the firm failed to communicate with regulators prior to the campaigns’ launches.

A supervisor for the CNMV said, “This is the first sanctioning proceeding to be opened for non-compliance with the circular regulating the advertising of cryptoassets.”

According to Reuters, the CNMV is also investigating four more incidents that relate to similar breaches of crypto advertising that may have taken place. 

Read more: FCA crypto crackdown brings warning list up to 12,200 firms

Any firm wanting to advertise crypto assets must reportedly give the CNMV at least 10 days notice before publishing their adverts to an audience exceeding 100,000 people. 

The CNMV noted that today’s proceedings do not prejudge the final result of the case.

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