Tessa M. Gorman, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington
A Brazilian citizen, Douver T. Braga, appeared in a U.S. District Court in Seattle after being extradited from Switzerland to face charges related to a cryptocurrency fraud scheme. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller announced that Braga, 48, is accused of operating a bitcoin investment scheme that was allegedly a Ponzi scheme and an illegal multilevel marketing operation.
The indictment against Braga was issued by a grand jury in October 2022 and unsealed following his arrest in Switzerland. He pleaded "Not Guilty" during his court appearance, with the trial set for April 28, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Tana Lin.
U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller stated, "Mr. Braga allegedly ran a fraud scheme that harkens back more than a century, but he updated his ‘Ponzi’ scheme with the hot new thing: bitcoin." She commended federal partners at the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation for their work on the case.
According to the indictment, Braga conspired with others to create Trade Coin Club (TCC), purportedly a cryptocurrency trading platform based in Belize. The platform promised investors profits through sophisticated software and referrals but was allegedly non-existent. Instead, early investors were paid off using funds from later investors.
Braga promoted TCC globally and claimed it had over 126,000 members across 231 countries. Investors entrusted over 82,000 bitcoin valued at over $290 million at the time of investment to TCC based on false promises of high returns.
From December 2016 to July 2019, Braga allegedly misappropriated investor funds amounting to at least $50 million in bitcoin into accounts he controlled. By late 2017 and early 2018, investors faced difficulties accessing their funds as TCC ceased operations in the United States.
Braga reportedly failed to report substantial earnings from these activities to the IRS while receiving significant amounts of bitcoin between 2017 and 2019.
W. Mike Herrington of the FBI’s Seattle field office remarked on the case's significance: “While the victims in this case waited and wondered about the fate of their investments, he siphoned off millions of dollars for his personal use."
Special Agent Tyler Hatcher of IRS-Criminal Investigation highlighted that "the charges against Mr. Braga reflect a well-designed scheme" involving fake cryptocurrency trading platforms aimed at global victims.
Braga faces charges including twelve counts of wire fraud related to investor deposits and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Each charge carries potential penalties of up to twenty years imprisonment.
The investigation was conducted by IRS-CI and FBI agents with prosecution led by Assistant United States Attorneys Mike Dion and Phillip Kopczynski. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs assisted with securing extradition.
