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SAO PAULO
Alamy Photo
Three Brazilian footballers, including Nottingham Forest midfielder Gustavo Scarpa, say they have fallen victim to a multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency scam, according to local media reports.
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Scarpa, his former teammate Mayke at Sao Paulo club Palmeiras, and Willian Bigode of Rio de Janeiro club Fluminense all claim to have lost huge sums to a crypto firm called Xland, which promised investors returns of up to 5 percent a month on their money, according to the reports.
“I’ve always seen stupid people fall victim to pyramid schemes and scams. Finding myself in a situation like that is horrible,” Scarpa, 29, said in a WhatsApp audio message aired Sunday by Brazil’s biggest broadcaster, TV Globo.
Scarpa, who was named Brazilian league player of the year in 2022, and 30-year-old defender Mayke filed complaints with police in November, shortly after winning the league title with Palmeiras.
Scarpa says he invested 6.3 million reais ($1.2 million) in Xland. Mayke says he invested around 4 million reais ($762,000).
Both say they were persuaded to invest in the company by Willian Bigode, a former Palmeiras teammate.
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But Bigode, 36, says he is also a victim.
Brasilia-based Xland denied running a pyramid scheme and said it would pay back its clients.
It said it had suffered huge losses from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which declared bankruptcy in November.
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