Millionaire’s Alleged Sports Betting Fraud Begins Examination at Fair

This Wednesday, the Santa Maria da Feira court began hearing the case of a 40-year-old man suspected of defrauding several people in a scheme linked to a public sports betting bank.

The defendant, a resident of Oliveira de Azemeis in the district of Aveiro, who was not present at the start of the trial due to illness, is charged with the crime of qualified fraud.

According to the prosecutor’s indictment, the events occurred in 2014 when the defendant posed as a “sports “trader” – an investor in the betting market – by convincing several people to give him money to invest in sports betting sites that promised high financial returns.

However, according to investigators, the defendant never intended to return any amount to the players.

At the first court hearing, several victims were heard who stated that they had transferred various sums of money to the defendant with a guarantee of a monthly profit of 30 to 40%, while losing part of the invested capital.

One witness said he met the accused in a betting group on social media, saying he was “extremely famous” because “he was involved in training in the sport of tennis ‘trading’.”

He also said that the defendant had two computer programs (bots) that automatically placed bets on tennis and horses without the need for human intervention, and that he had “great confidence in it.”

“He was good at what he did,” he said, adding that the defendant posted printouts of the profits he made on social media.

In 2014, the defendant informed some players that it would begin accepting investments of between 500 and 30 thousand euros, guaranteeing a return of 40% on the money invested within one to two months, stating that there would never be any risk for the players. .

“There may have been lost bets, but he promised that the bot would always make a profit every month,” he explained.

This bettor initially gave the defendant five thousand euros, receiving seven thousand euros on the same day. He later made several more cash deliveries, which also resulted in financial gain. On September 22 and October 2, he again surrendered 15 thousand euros, but this time he received nothing, leaving him with a loss of 10,500 euros.

“The castle began to fall and the excuses he gave were vague. “He started blaming other people who worked with him for programming the bots poorly and said he would compensate everyone for the losses, but in the end he said he lost everything,” he said. said.

Another witness said that he invested a total of 55 thousand euros, receiving back about 40 thousand euros.

Three of the injured parties filed civil claims for compensation against the defendant, claiming amounts in excess of €35,000.