Ronaldinho Crypto Scam Allegations, No-Show In Court

Former football legend Ronaldinho has reportedly avoided attending a court hearing over allegations that his company operated a crypto scam.

“After the breakup, the former player was involved in a pyramid and his image, given his credibility and popularity, encouraged thousands of people to invest in a fraud, which caused damage to them”, the prosecutor declared.

Allegations of Promising High Returns Under Scrutiny

According to a recent local report, Ronaldinho allegedly could not make his court hearing in Brazil due to bad weather. As a consequence, airlines canceled flights to Porto Alegre, where authorities had scheduled the hearing.

The report states that Ronaldinho along with his brother Assis and business partner Marcelo Lara, were to testimony before the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry. The allegations assert that the company owned by the trio, 18K Ronaldinho operated a crypto scam in the form of a pyramid scheme.

The guaranteed high daily returns allegedly caught the attention of authorities:

“The company claimed to work with cryptocurrency trading and arbitration and promised its clients income of up to 2% per day, allegedly based on operations with digital currencies, which raised suspicions that it was a financial pyramid due to promises of high and fast payment returns.”

The report indicates that the police might ensure Ronaldinho’s presence in court. It also suggests that his fame will not provide any special privileges in the legal proceedings:

“Why? It is not because of the condition of being a player or not, of being rich or poor, and Mr. Ronaldinho has a lot to say to this CPI and to the Brazilian people, he and his partners,’ the prosecutor allegedly declared.

Ronaldinho has a history of associating with crypto projects.

In July 2021, Ronaldinho launched a non-fungible token (NFT) collection, in partnership with NFT creative studio INFLUXO.

To bid on the limited edition NFTs, bidders had to show proof of funds in their wallet when the auction commenced.

Several NFT holders had the opportunity to redeem a feature that unlocked an in-person experience with Ronaldinho in Dubai. The package also included a round-trip ticket and a two-day stay.