Spanish authorities have arrested the ringleader behind the Nano Membership Ponzi scheme.
Cited solely as “the pinnacle of a legal group”, the suspect has been charged by Belgian authorities on a number of counts of fraud and cash laundering.
As reported by The Chief on June thirtieth, 2024;
A forty five-year-old Belgian has been arrested in Orihuela Costa on prices of fraud and cash laundering in reference to a €24 million pyramid scheme.
The person, who faces as much as ten years in jail, is accused of heading a legal group that defrauded Belgian buyers between 2015 and 2018.
The Belgian authorities allege that the defendant lured buyers right into a fraudulent cryptocurrency funding scheme. Buyers had been promised excessive returns on their investments in “nano cash.”
Earlier than we get to nano cash we’ve to again as much as 2015 and the launch of Crypto 888 Membership.
Crypto 888 Membership was an MLM crypto Ponzi constructed round “octacoin”. Aleksander Romanov, a person believed to not exist, was introduced as Crypto 888 Membership’s founder.
Over the following yr and a half Crypto 888 Membership collapsed twice and was rebooted 3 times. BehindMLM subsequent reported on the third reboot, Nano Membership.
Nano Membership launched in late 2016 and was extra of the identical monetary fraud, this time constructed round “nanocoins”.
Nano Membership lasted till late 2017, whereby it was rebooted for a fourth and last time as Nano Crowd.
Nano Crowd noticed Nano Membership victims funnelled into Ormeus World, a Ponzi scheme arrange by US nationwide John Barksdale.
Barksdale was indicted on Ormeus World fraud prices within the US in 2022. Barksdale was hiding out in Thailand on the time of his indictment.
Barksdale has since fled to Dubai, the place he’s being harbored by Mavie World – yet one more MLM crypto Ponzi scheme. Barksdale stays a needed fugitive.
Getting again to Nano Membership and its nano cash;
The person is believed to be the pinnacle of the Belgian firm behind the pyramid scheme.
Based on the Belgian court docket, he collected over €9.8 million from buyers by means of his firms. The investigation additionally means that he used a lot of this cash to buy actual property properties in Spain.
BehindMLM readers have tied Nano Membership to a number of Belgian nationals over time.
NANO actual proprietor Stijn Vanstraelen, proper palms are: Pieter Van Devijver, Kris Lemmens, Kristof De Vlieger, Tim Vermeiren, François Colin, Patrick Vermeesch, Hendrik Hendrickx, NANO CEO George Van Wijk, the NANO Lawyer Petter Forsberg.
In 2016 a BehindMLM reader claimed Stijn Van Straelen was “an insider at Nano and resides within the Torevieja space in Spain, purchased an costly villa there and having fun with the nice life from his “blood” cash.”
Torrevieja is 10 miles from Orihuela Costa in Spain’s south-east. This additionally tracks with the arrested Belgian nationwide laundering cash by means of Spanish properties.
Right here’s the one identified picture of the arrested Nano Membership ringleader:
Previous to Crypto 888 Membership, right here’s Stijn Van Straelen selling EmGoldex in 2014:
Emgoldex is an unrelated Russian collapsed MLM Ponzi scheme.
This profile picture was uploaded to a FaceBook account bearing the identify “Vanstraelen Stijn” in Could 2023:
As you’ll be able to see, Van Straelen has been going bald for someday. Whereas Van Straelen may have gotten the mid-life disaster remedy in Turkey and placed on a bunch of weight over the previous yr, I nonetheless don’t suppose he’s a powerful match for the arrested suspect although.
I’ve performed my finest to profile every of the named Nano Membership accomplices by our readers however nonetheless can’t affirm who the arrested suspect is. Any individual aware of Nano Membership ought to be capable of acknowledge who it’s although.
As named by a BehindMLM reader (quoted above), Petter Forsberg does certainly look like the Norwegian lawyer who oversaw Nano Membership’s cash laundering.
The investigation revealed that the cash invested by the victims was channelled by means of a posh net of accounts in Norway, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Many of the cash seems to have been transferred to accounts exterior of Belgium, with a good portion going to accounts held by a lawyer in Norway.
The Belgian legal investigation into Nano Membership was launched following complaints from Belgian victims. So far Belgian authorities have acquired and filed complaints from 58 victims.
Sadly, as is usually the case when European authorities deal with MLM Ponzi circumstances, the arrested Nano Membership suspect has since been launched.
As reported by Informacion on June thirtieth;
The fugitive … was not too long ago arrested at his dwelling in Orihuela Costa on account of a European arrest and give up order (OEDE) issued by a Belgian court docket for crimes of abuse of belief, fraud, theft, pyramid scheme, unfair business practices, legal group, falsification of paperwork, cash laundering, defamation, laptop falsification and violation of the safety of authorized tender financial indicators.
The fugitive, who was provisionally launched after being positioned on the disposal of the Nationwide Court docket … has been linked in Belgium to a legal group that defrauded buyers who paid greater than 24 million euros.
Whether or not the suspect has already fled Spain is unclear.
Monitoring worldwide circumstances is tough but when we come throughout any additional updates we’ll hold you posted.
Replace fifth July 2024 – Media stories have confirmed the arrested Nano Membership suspect is Stijn Vanstraelen.