Fantástico, the current-affairs programme on Brazil's TV Globo, announced that it will broadcast an interview next Sunday with Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, known as the Bitcoin Pharaoh, who has been jailed since 2021 and identified as the leader of one of Brazil's largest cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes. According to the programme's trailer, he will speak for the first time about the case and reveal how he manipulated the market to sustain the promise of high returns that drew thousands of investors into GAS Consultoria.
The interview puts the case back in the spotlight ahead of a new judicial stage. Glaidson's trial, originally scheduled for this week, has been postponed to 25 February 2027. He will be tried by the Rio de Janeiro jury court in proceedings involving charges related to the death of trader Wesley Pessano, 19, and the attempted murder of investor Nilson Alves da Silva, known as Nilsinho.
Glaidson became nationally known for running GAS Consultoria, a company based in Cabo Frio, in Rio de Janeiro's Região dos Lagos, which promised fixed monthly returns of 10% from purported cryptocurrency trading operations. Brazil's federal police estimated that at least 300,000 people invested in the company, drawn by the promise of high returns.
The arrest took place on 25 August 2021, during Operation Kryptos, launched by the federal police to investigate GAS. At Glaidson's home in western Rio, agents seized bitcoins, gold bars, luxury cars and more than 2.18 million EUR in cash, according to reports on the case.
From promised profit to Ponzi-scheme accusation
GAS presented itself as a cryptocurrency consultancy and investment firm. The model, however, came under investigation as a Ponzi scheme because it promised fixed, high returns in a market known precisely for its volatility. According to the investigation, money from new investors was used to sustain payments to earlier clients, a dynamic typical of this kind of fraud.
Investigators also found that the company moved funds through foreign exchanges. In 2021, it was shown that GAS bought and sold crypto assets on platforms such as Binance, Bitstamp, Bitfinex and Bittrex, after having its operations blocked by a Brazilian exchange in 2017 over suspected fraud. On Binance alone, Glaidson reportedly moved more than 167.8 million EUR, according to information cited at the time.
Beyond the criminal proceedings, the case also had administrative consequences. In 2024, Brazil's National Financial System Appeals Council upheld a penalty imposed by the securities regulator, the CVM, against GAS Consultoria, Glaidson and his then wife, Mirelis Diaz Zerpa. The body confirmed the punishment for fraudulent operation and unregistered offering of securities, in a decision that totalled roughly 17.12 million EUR in fines for those involved.
The case grew even more serious with accusations of violence against rivals in the cryptocurrency market. An earlier Fantástico report showed that investigations pointed to Glaidson having ordered the killing of rivals and using a network of shell companies, bribed officials, and even the purchase of a police operation against competitors.
Trial pushed to 2027
The trial scheduled for this year has been rescheduled for February 2027. The case concerns the charge of homicide over the death of Wesley Pessano in 2021, and the attempted murder of Nilsinho. The case was initially set to be tried in Cabo Frio but was transferred to the state capital.
The interview announced by Fantástico is expected to be the first time Glaidson speaks publicly about how the scheme worked after years in custody and with several investigations still open. The promise that he will explain how he manipulated the market to keep returns detached from reality could bring new details about a mechanism that marked the Brazilian crypto market and helped popularise, in a negative way, the use of Bitcoin as a front for financial scams.
The case also became significant for the sector because it turned into a symbol of the period before specific crypto asset regulation existed in Brazil. Since then, Brazil's central bank, the Banco Central do Brasil, has moved to structure rules for virtual asset service providers, while authorities have stepped up oversight of firms offering investment products that promise fixed returns using crypto as a lure.
More than five years after his arrest, the Bitcoin Pharaoh remains one of the best-known names in the country's recent history of financial fraud. Sunday's interview is expected to reignite questions that still surround the case: how much money was lost, where the remaining funds are, and how a business built on the promise of 10% monthly returns managed to grow for so long before becoming the target of one of Brazil's largest operations against crypto Ponzi schemes.
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