Barcelona and Real Madrid legends accused of endorsing a €3 billion Crypto Ponzi (report)

The cryptocurrency sector includes several legitimate projects and innovations, but it is also full of fraudulent schemes.

One such scam reportedly pocketed billions of euros from its unsuspecting customers after using popular soccer players as sponsors.

Painful losses following the involvement of footballers

El Diario, a Spanish digital newspaper known for its investigative journalism, recently claimed that a dubious cryptocurrency project, called Omegapro, embezzled €3 billion from hundreds of its clients. The media company described the entity as a typical pyramid scheme that promised huge returns in just 14 months after investing and using numerous football stars as promoters.

The names include icons like Kaká, Luis Figo, Iker Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Fernando Hierro, Ronaldinho, Carles Puyol and more. According to the report, some of the players endorsed Omegapro during promotional events, while others did so on social media platforms.

For the uninitiated, Casillas, Carlos and Hierro are among Real Madrid’s great legends, having won every major tournament with “Los Blancos” (the team’s nickname for the color of their kits). Ronaldinho and Puyol, on the other hand, played for Real’s biggest rivals, FC Barcelona, ​​and had the same success.

El Diario interviewed some of the defrauded investors, and they all said the involvement of soccer players was one of the reasons they jumped on the bandwagon. Dolores, who lost her life savings (€18,000), said:

“How was this supposed to be a scam? If even footballers were involved and the company’s logo was projected onto a skyscraper in Dubai!”

According to the newspaper, three of Omegapro’s top executives are already behind bars, and two others are still at large. A lawyer representing the victims promised to bring before the judge all football stars who, directly or indirectly, endorsed the plan.

The fraud took place in 2022 and affected investors all over the world. It is worth noting that the Spanish Securities Market Commission had added Omegapro to its list of non-transparent financial businesses two years before the scam.

There is nothing new for Ronaldinho

One of the aforementioned stars, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (better known as Ronaldinho), has previously been linked to another suspicious crypto scheme.

This happened last summer when Brazilian authorities opened an investigation against him for alleged involvement in a scam called “18kRonaldinho”. The project offered generous but false profits of 2% per day to those who invested at least $30 in digital assets.

At first, the winner of the 2005 Ballon d’Or did not visit the track to shed more light on his potential role in the organization. “18kRonaldinho” was later exposed as a Ponzi scheme, but the former soccer star distanced himself from the project. He claimed that his role was limited to promotional activities, while his name and image had been used without his full understanding or authorization.

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