Another alleged financial pyramid, which uses cryptocurrency as bait to lure in victims, was the target of a police operation.
The Civil Police of São Paulo launched on Tuesday morning (23) operations to carry out search and seizure warrants in luxury condominiums located in the city of Santana de Parnaíba in Metropolitan São Paulo. The property is linked to a married couple suspected of financial pyramid and money laundering.
According to investigations reported by Estadão, Philip Wood Hahn and Carla Moreira Hahn were said to be in charge of at least six companies suspected of belonging to a financial pyramid scheme. The companies involved are: WCM777, Mr. Link, ifreex, Fx Trading, F2 Trading and My Hash.
Some of them promised investors gains of up to 50% on the amount invested through alleged cryptocurrency operations. According to the authorities, the couple’s companies did not have a license to operate in the country.
Civilian operation targeting Philip Hahn and Carla Hahn
A civil police investigation indicates that the couple have set up the companies over the past nine years, in sequence. All companies promised high returns by investing in products and services related to technology or digital assets.
As is typical of pyramid schemes, companies have adopted the concept of multi-level marketing to gain scalability. This business model consists of distributing goods or services from which profits can come from selling products or recruiting new participants.
In the case of the Han couple’s businesses, members were encouraged to invite others to invest in the business. However, the model didn’t seem to last for long, according to investigations. This is because many investors have ended up registering complaints claiming that they were the victims of a scam.
Investigations into the couple’s alleged illicit activities began in 2019, when Estadão published a report on the Han couple and their shady businesses.
“Anyone who doesn’t make $50,000 a day is a loser.”
The aforementioned report told the story of Philip Hahn, who stated that “Anyone who does not make $50,000 a day is a failure.”
According to the publication, the suspect was already in 2019 living a luxurious life with first-class international travel and designer clothes.
His main company at that time was FX Trading, which promised 1.5% profit per day from the purchase and sale of digital currencies such as Bitcoin, for example.
Already that year, the company was being investigated by the police for practicing pyramid schemes. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has suspended forex trading operations due to irregular activities in the capital market. Han then closed the company and launched a new company, F2 Trading, which some investors flocked to.
Prior to this, Han had been “training” at shady companies such as WCM777 and Mr. Link and iFreex, which earned Han his first cop record.
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