A gospel singer with more than 139 thousand followers on Instagram and her husband are investigated by the Civil Police of Minas Gerais, suspected of being behind a pyramid scheme.
The singer, known as Izabela Cristy, 28, who claims to be a regular at the Church of the Foursquare Gospel, is a partner with her husband, David Robson de Barros, 34, of the company I & D Investimentos, based in Belo Horizonte (MG).
The investigation, opened on suspicion of embezzlement, began with complaints made against the couple at the police station in Lagoa Santa, a municipality in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, neighboring the city of Pedro Leopoldo, where the singer was born.
The pyramid scheme consists of attracting investors with the promise of returns above market applications. Each person who enters needs to contribute an amount and introduce new members.
The resources are passed on to those at the top of the pyramid, that is, those who entered first. While new members agree to participate in the scheme, the transfers follow. When no one else shows up, the system breaks down. The practice is illegal in the country.
Police do not say how many people so far claim to have been harmed or when the investigation began.
“In relation to the couple suspected of embezzlement, there is already an investigation underway at the police unit. Some victims have already been heard. passed on by the corporation.
On social media, in addition to being a gospel singer, Cristy also presents herself as a trader (as financial market agents are known) and “model in Dubai” (model in Dubai).
The singer claims there were mistakes at the company, but blames them on employees.
“They began to advance payments to investors. We also verified false proof of transfers within the system. We have proof of all this”, he says. The problems would have started as early as last year, she says.
According to Cristy, her company, created three years ago, operates with investments in the Stock Exchange and reached 3,972 clients. “Today, I don’t know how many there are,” she says.
Cristy’s husband states that the couple does not act on the Stock Exchange, but on the non-fungible token market (NFT). He also says that the couple usually claims that they work with the Stock Exchange so as not to mention the area in which they actually operate and, thus, not arouse competition. “We’re not a pyramid,” says David.
The non-fungible token market trades illustrations, animations and videos in the virtual world that are sold with a digital certificate of authenticity. Asked how exactly he would act in this market, David said that, to speak more, he would have to charge consulting.
Cristy and David say they have an audit underway to find out what happened at the company. The procedure is being done by the couple themselves. “My husband and I will have the final word on who has invested or not,” says the singer.
Regarding the testimony to the Civil Police, the couple says they have not been summoned to appear at the police station. “Nothing came to us or our lawyer,” says Cristy.
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