A Brazilian pyramid scheme operating in Kenya has gone down with hundreds of millions of shillings belonging to local bitcoin investors. The firm, founded by Brazilian con Ricardo Rocha, promised those who would be ranked among its biggest investors by April 18, 2018, a free five-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, where they would meet “top global business gurus”. Ms Esther Muthoni, a businesswoman, is among the thousands of Kenyans who fell for the fraud and invested Sh3.2 million in the scheme.
She hoped to make a killing. Instead Ms Muthoni has lost her life savings. Now she is desperate, sick and confused. She introduced her friend Lucy Kamatu, who invested Sh550,000 into the scheme. That, too, is gone. The two illustrate the predicament of Kenyans who were lured into the world of cryptocurrency by Rocha and his agents at Velox 10 Global, a little-known company that claimed to trade in bitcoins.
The firm said it would help investors mint millions of shillings in profits. It charged $100 (about Sh10,000) as membership fee, but members needed to upgrade by paying an additional $200, with the promise of earning up to $4,000 daily. The Velox launch at Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi on September 20, 2017 was colourful. It promised ambitious Kenyans millions of shillings in returns if they let it invest their cash in bitcoins.
At the time Velox began its operations in Kenya, it had not yet been registered as a company in the country. It was registered on January 25, 2018, nearly four years after its operations began. Media reports from the launch event indicated that Mr Rocha was accompanied by the local Velox representative, Mr Paul Mugo. Other individuals that were used to market the venture were Ms Sarah Nyambura and Ms Jane Nyambura.
