Spanish authorities have ordered the detention without bail of Álvaro Romillo, a well-known crypto influencer and founder of the alleged Ponzi scheme Madeira Invest Club (MIC), on charges of orchestrating a $300 million fraud that defrauded thousands of investors.
Key Takeaways:
Spanish crypto influencer Álvaro Romillo has been jailed without bail for allegedly running a $300 million Ponzi scheme. Investigators say MIC defrauded over 3,000 investors, promising annual returns of up to 20%. Romillo faces up to 18 years in prison, with authorities linking him to a hidden €29 million Singapore account.Romillo was taken into custody on Thursday after investigators uncovered a Singapore bank account containing €29 million ($33.5 million) linked to his network of companies.
Citing the discovery as evidence that he posed a flight risk, National Court judge José Luis Calama ordered him jailed following a two-hour testimony.
Spain’s Civil Guard Says Madeira Invest Club Defrauded 3,000 Victims
According to Spain’s Civil Guard, MIC lured more than 3,000 victims into what investigators believe was a classic Ponzi operation, raising around €260 million through promises of unrealistic annual returns of up to 20%.
The company claimed to offer investment opportunities in digital artwork and luxury goods such as yachts, Ferraris, and gold, with guaranteed buyback options that prosecutors say were fraudulent.
Authorities began probing the scheme in late 2024, filing multiple complaints by October that year. Over the following months, Romillo appeared to cooperate with the investigation while law enforcement seized dozens of high-end vehicles and other assets.
His arrest was triggered only after prosecutors confirmed the offshore bank accounts, raising fears that he might abscond.
Court documents cited by Cadena SER suggest Romillo could face up to nine years in prison, or eighteen years if the crimes are classified as “mass offenses.”
During Friday’s hearing, Romillo insisted he planned to reimburse investors, claiming to have already repaid around 2,700 people in cash—though he provided no documentation to verify those claims.
Adding to the controversy, Romillo previously admitted to making a €100,000 under-the-table donation to the 2024 campaign of far-right MEP Luis “Alvise” Pérez, leader of the SALF party, who is now facing a separate investigation.
The MIC scandal has quickly become one of Spain’s largest crypto fraud cases to date, marking another high-profile collapse in Europe’s ongoing crackdown on unregulated investment schemes.
Investor Loses $3M in Crypto Phishing Scam
As reported, a cryptocurrency investor has fallen victim to a phishing scam, losing $3.05 million in Tether (USDT) after unknowingly signing a malicious blockchain transaction.
The loss, flagged by blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain on Wednesday, underscores the rising threat of phishing attacks targeting digital asset holders.
The attacker exploited a common habit among crypto users: validating only the first and last few characters of a wallet address while ignoring the middle.
Crypto investors lost over $2.2 billion to hacks, scams, and breaches in the first half of 2025, driven largely by wallet compromises and phishing attacks, according to CertiK’s latest security report.
Wallet breaches alone caused $1.7 billion in losses across just 34 incidents, while phishing scams accounted for over $410 million across 132 attacks.
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