Spain’s Civil Guard just arrested Álvaro Romillo, a Spanish crypto influencer, for allegedly running a €260 million Ponzi scheme. Let’s break it down.
What happened?
Let’s introduce Álvaro, aka CryptoSpain, who purportedly ran the Madeira Invest Club (MIC), a private investment club. Through this club, he promised more than 3,000 investors “guaranteed” 20% annual returns on everything from crypto to real estate, luxury goods, whisky, and even digital art.
Spoiler alert: this was only a Ponzi scheme, and the only thing guaranteed was chaos. Authorities say that MIC wasn’t performing any real investments — it was only paying out old investors with funds from the new ones. The classic sh*t.
Started in early 2023, the club grew pretty fast, stretching into a complex network across 10 countries (including Portugal, the U.K., the U.S., Malaysia, and more). The operation relied on a maze of shell companies, secret bank accounts, and a fleet of luxury cars parked in nearly every timezone.
And just like Sam Bankman-Fried aka “SBF” (FTX’s ex-CEO) funneled funds to support Biden’s political party in the U.S., Romillo seems to have slipped €100K in cash under the table to MEP Alvise Pérez to back his 2024 campaign. But things didn’t end well for Sam… and they didn’t for Álvaro either.
It’s Handcuffs Time
Such endeavours don’t stay hidden for long. Both the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard and the Tax Agency suspected criminal activity by Romillo and submitted a report to Spain’s National Court Judge, highlighting strong indications of fraud and money laundering.
The fiesta officially ended when investigators uncovered €29 million chilling in a Singapore bank account tied to Romillo. Fearing that he’d flee to Bali, Judge José Luis Calama ordered his arrest without bail.
Authorities then seized a fleet of 27 luxury vehicles, including Ferraris, Porsches, a Maybach, and much more — a collection worthy of a “Fast & Fraudulent” version of the famous saga.
In his defense, Romillo claimed he had repaid 2,700 investors… in cash, naturally, and without any payment proof of course, just his words to back him up.
He’s now facing between 9 and 18 years in prison, depending on how the court classifies the fraud.
The takeaway
In the crypto world, things move very fast, and in opposite directions. You can find amazing opportunities as much as you can find “amazing” scams (or more accurately, the scams find you).
In any investment environment, such as crypto or stock markets, when you can earn money, you can also lose it. There is no such thing as a 100% guaranteed return over your investment and this should always be kept in mind to avoid fraudulent propositions or assets. The higher the potential return, the higher the risk.
So when something sounds too good to be true — like a 20% guaranteed return hands down — that’s probably because it isn’t.
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