The National Court has “flatly” refused to paralyze the judicial process opened against the directors of the cryptocurrency company Arbistar, whose headquarters were located in Arona (in the south of Tenerife), who are attributed with the crimes of fraud and membership in a criminal organization, punishable by up to 18 years in prison.
The Court maintains that the business was based on “a fraudulent network,” given that it provided software that had to be renewed every year and that never really existed.
“Therefore, the behavior of the defendants was deceptive and their intention with respect to the capital transferred by the investors was from the beginning merely capture,” indicates the order of the National Court, to which EFE has had access.
It states that Arbistar promised “a perfect investment environment with a system that never failed, which was obviously a fallacy” because it never worked, as reflected in the report prepared by the Cybercrime Department of the Police. National.
This report concludes that it has been impossible to determine its technical characteristics and operation, nor who had access to it and the tools to manage it.
On June 6, the Court agreed to declare seven Arbistar executives indicted and ordered provisional detention without bail for this reason, including Santiago Fuentes “in his capacity as leadership”, an order against which an appeal for reform was filed. which was dismissed on July 5.
Another appeal was then filed, again requesting the annulment of the judicial process for going against the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU), which was opposed by the Prosecutor’s Office.
At the end of last September, the corresponding hearing was held, from which this latest order was derived, which also rejects the defendants’ appeal.
The latest calculations indicate that 32,000 people could be harmed and would have lost close to 92 million between May 2019 and September 2020, which was when the alleged scheme, considered one of the biggest scams in terms of digital assets, was reported.
The order that was requested to be annulled contains an “adequate and sufficient” factual description of the existing evidence of criminality in that it attributes to the defendants “a capital participation in the facts under investigation with criminal relevance” and includes in “detailed form the operation of this business”.
The researchers relate how a series of automated systems were offered to invest in cryptocurrencies through various arbitration bots, presented as an infallible tool to determine the best time to buy and sell and on which platform to do so.
But instead of generating high profitability due to their supposed infallibility, “the defendants developed a fraudulent business, in which they attracted new investors, through a fictitious arbitration system motivated by illicit enrichment.”
The promised profitability ranged between 8% and 15% monthly and strategies were carried out to attract clients such as holding meetings in hotels and conference rooms by the main defendant, who is also attributed a very active role in the YouTube channel, used for the same purpose.
These videos, recorded from the company’s offices in Arona, would be evidence of the crimes attributed to them in that they were used as tutorials to teach how to make investments or guarantee high returns.
The directors appealed to the annulment of the procedure due to an alleged failure to comply with deadlines and absence of evidence of criminality, especially because according to the defense it was not proven that the injured parties had made the contributions to which they refer.
They also alleged that no evidentiary activity was carried out to establish the transfer of assets and the illicit origin of these capitals.
They criticize that the instructor talks about the company’s offer being false, when the report from the Central Operational Union (UCO) of the Civil Guard says that no source code files or databases have been located.
Added to this is that the report from the Criminal Intelligence Unit of the National Police, according to the directors, is not conclusive, it does not identify the injured parties, nor the ownership of the corresponding wallets.
“It is not proven whether there was a transfer of assets and even less so whether said transaction was destined for a wallet owned by Arbistar 2.0. SL. Nothing has been proven, so the National Police report of May 11 only seeks to amend something that no longer has a remedy, the break in the chain of custody, which motivated the filing of the corresponding annulment incident for this defense,” say the appellants.
Those investigated remember that at the time they warned the supposedly injured parties of the risk they ran by investing in this business, so in any case it would be a civil lawsuit and not a criminal one.
The National Court describes as “surprising” that there is talk of a lack of evidence of criminality given the countless complaints presented and believes that the resources simply show discrepancies with the results of the investigations.
He rejects that the deadlines have been missed but rather that an attempt is being made to shorten the investigation phase of this complicated judicial procedure and emphasizes that the indictment, instead of harming, gives guarantees to the accused and to those who may be accused without evidence in the future.
“Therefore, at this procedural moment, the accusations do not have to be proven, but rather rational evidence must be collected to support them,” the order concludes.
the real leader of Arbistar is Diego Felipe Fernandez. He came up with the whole scheme from the beginning, stealing investors’ money and spending it on cocaine, prostitutes, discotheques, luxury cars and vacations. He is hiding. If you want information about him, email me .